Monroe County

As cases of COVID-19 decrease, slight increase in viruses that cause common colds among young children

Rochester, New York  —  According to World Health Organization research as cases of COVID-19 decrease, some research points to a slight increase in viruses that cause common colds among young children.  The research says there is a risk of spikes in common cold viruses as we re-open schools and it could be due to months of social distancing. Allergies and viruses that cause the common cold have many families bringing their children to urgent care centers like Acute Kids in Webster.
“Not a surprise that we see a little bit of a spike as the masks comes off and everyone feels safer in the community,” said Chrysa Charno, CEO Clinical Director.
As officials from Centers for Disease Control say, Cases of Respiratory Syncytial Virus- which causes colds — has spiked in months when schools reopened.
And research from The World Health Organization and Chinese laboratories found a quote-“… increased risk posed by common cold viruses in locations where schools have been closed…” after multiple break outs in England and Hong Kong that forced schools to shut down once again.
According to pediatricians as we social distanced, children had little chance to build immunity against common virus.
“Our children develop strong immune systems from being exposed to viruses,” said Charno.
“Our youngest children, who may have been kept away from those sorts of environments or masked…have not had the regular exposure,” said Charno.
Charno suggests testing for children who feel sick  because cold symptoms can look like COVID-19.

“What’s most challenging right now is we do have coronavirus still here in our community even though the instances is low it still looks the same as a cold versus allergies,” said Charno.

Related Articles

Back to top button