study
Children infected with omicron are contagious for about three days
In Germany, as in other countries, mainly omicron sublines such as EG.5 and XBB.1.16 are currently circulating. photo
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa/Symbolbild
There are no longer any fixed rules. Parents must therefore decide for themselves how long they will not send a child suffering from Covid-19 to school or daycare to protect others. What do experts recommend?
The Professional Association of Pediatricians and Adolescents (BVKJ) currently recommends that with Corona, as with normal colds, keeping a child at home as long as they feel sick, have a fever or diarrhea or are vomiting. After 24 hours without symptoms, they can go back to daycare or school.
The current US study also showed that almost a fifth of the children recorded were still infectious on the fifth day, and almost 4 percent even on the 10th day. The duration was independent of the child’s vaccination status. Finding the right amount for the quarantine is important: it is important to protect the other children in the group, but at the same time not to make the time out unnecessarily long for the child concerned – because of the loss of lessons, but also because of the possible psychological consequences Burden.
The team led by Neeraj Sood from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics in Los Angeles and Stanford University examined nasal swabs over 10 days from 76 children and adolescents between the ages of 7 and 18 who tested positive for Corona. The samples were examined for infectivity in the laboratory. All participants were infected with omicron. Previous studies have shown that adults infected with it remain contagious for a little longer, on average five days.