By studying 110 children aged two weeks to 21 years who tested positive for COVID-19 at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) or urgent care clinics, researchers confirmed earlier findings that infants, children and adolescents are equally capable of carrying high levels of live, replicating SARS-CoV-2 in their respiratory secretions.
The researchers at Harvard-affiliated MGH and colleagues from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard then showed that these high levels of virus correspond with live, infectious virus, and that levels are highest early in the illness in both symptomatic and asymptomatic children. They found no correlation between the age of the children and the amount of their viral load.