DESE Claim 2 (footnote #73): "Analysis of clusters of patients with COVID-19 indicates that most transmissions are from adults to children, rather than vice versa. This is different from some other respiratory viruses."
Cited Source: Zhu, Y., Bloxham, C. J., Hulme, K. D., Sinclair, J. E., Tong, Z. W. M., Steele, L. E., ... & Gilks, C. (2020). Children are unlikely to have been the primary source of household SARS-CoV-2 infections. Available at https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.26.20044826v1
Peer Reviewed?: No. Preprint study.
Study Methodology: Meta-analysis "observational study analysing literature published between December 2019 and March 2020"
Notes: The analysis only includes data from 40 of the 166 studies found in their data search. Most household transmission clusters had an adult index case. The study mentions that fewer contacts outside the home may be a factor in less children as index cases within households. "It is also possible that children simply have fewer interactions outside of the home than adults and are therefore less likely to be index cases. This may be magnified in countries which have implemented school closures in an attempt to control the outbreak." Testing limitations may influence the data contained in the studies analyzed.
Supports DESE Claim 1?: Limited support. This study looks only at household transmission; with no attempts to generalize to other community spread. Additionally, children's transmission rates do not predict the safety of opening schools for adult staff.
Supports DESE Claim 2?: Limited support. This study looks only at household transmission; with no attempts to generalize to other community spread.
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