For children aged 3-18 who contracted coronavirus, about 11.2% have experienced the effects of long COVID, says a recent survey by the Health Ministry. Ongoing symptoms include illness, fatigue, breathlessness, disturbed sleep, concentration problems, and mental health issues. Ultimately, with isolation, school closures, and the midsummer war, it is uncertain what impact the virus has directly had, where preconditions play a role, and what is in direct effect from the virus.
Of those with long COVID, 1.8% of the children were under 12. Those 12 and over experienced a higher probability of long COVID, especially for those who had symptoms. About 4.6% still suffered from symptoms six months later.
So far, about 200,000 children under 18 have tested positive, with about half of them asymptomatic. Even for those who didn’t show symptoms, 3.5% were likely to get long COVID. In older brackets, long COVID is found to impact 10% of 18–49-year-olds, and about 20% of those over 70, reports a Yale study.
On Monday, over 7,700 people were found to be positive with coronavirus, and there are currently 41,000 active coronavirus cases. About half of those found positive were students. While Israel continues to push for 12–18-year-olds to receive the vaccine, they are also considering easing restrictions for those under 12, as parents are also experiencing distress due to the need to test and isolate at unmanageable rates.
Not only are young children suffering from the effects of long COVID, they are also found to be 34% more likely to need emotional support, 37% had more learning difficulties, and 25% become more violent.
“We want to have children back in school with in-person learning and back to their normal lives, but at the same time they are the ones who are not protected. Therefore we need to be cautious and not run into decisions about isolations without testing if this would not increase infection among them,” says Sharon Alroy-Preis, Head of Israel’s Public Health.
