Category: Children
Raging spread of #coronavirus infection at a school in Umeå, Sweden
The spread of infection is rampant at the Prolympia School in Umeå. 24 students and 3 teachers have so far been found infected.
It has broken loose in a completely different way than it has done before, says the school’s principal Rasmus Wengberg.
It is suspected that it is the British mutation of the virus that has affected the school, because so many have fallen ill, despite precautionary measures.
#School pupil infected with South Africa #coronavirus variant #B1351 in Achberg, Germany. 150 people in quarantine
The school had to close last Friday, just under a week after it opened. The boy’s classmates and teachers and their families are affected by the quarantine. Two kindergarten groups also had to be isolated as a precaution because a sibling of the student was being looked after there. Where the boy was infected is unclear, said a community spokeswoman.
Because the boy’s teacher also tested positive , their contacts and their families also had to be in quarantine. However, it is still unclear whether the infection is a virus mutation.
FAZ.NET report dated 11.55am, 1st March 2021
Image by annaandersson820 from Pixabay
Imperial College study: 2% of babies born to #coronavirus positive UK mothers later test positive for the virus themselves
The proportion of babies born to mothers with confirmed COVID-19, and who subsequently tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus (which causes COVID-19) was 2 per cent in the UK study, and 1.8 per cent in the US study.
The majority of women in the study had no pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or a respiratory condition such as asthma.
In the UK study eight of the women died, while four women died in the US study.
The study team say that although these death rates are higher than expected for women giving birth, they are similar to the expected death rates seen among adults with a confirmed COVID-19 infection. This suggests that women in pregnancy are not at a higher risk of death from COVID-19 than non-pregnant women.
Image by Cindy Parks from Pixabay
Stillborn #baby death linked to #coronavirus, second such case in one week in Israel
A woman in her 36th week of pregnancy gave birth to a dead baby on Friday at Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba. She had gone to the hospital after she stopped feeling fetal movements. Laboratory tests performed after the baby’s birth showed that he was infected with novel coronavirus.
The hospital said that it suspects there is a connection between the baby’s death and the virus. The woman, 26, has a mild case of the virus. She was not vaccinated. This is the second such case in Israel and one of only a handful worldwide of a fetus contracting the virus in utero.
Full report in the Jerusalem Post
Italy: #Schools to be closed in red zones or in areas with a high #coronavirus incidence of cases
Schools towards closure in the red areas and in the territories where there are high thresholds of contagion, regardless of the colors. ..the decree could be signed soon by Prime Minister Mario Draghi, even on Monday.
The new provisions are moving towards a step backwards on face-to-face lessons in various territories, as already feared by the Higher Institute of Health and invoked by various governors, some of whom have already done so with regional ordinances. According to CTS sources, “an evident impact of new infections in schools is , but differentiated. For this reason, a modulation of the measures according to the areas, variable according to Municipalities or Provinces and not only on a regional basis, would be desirable”.
Italy: “There is a direct link between the increase in admissions for #coronavirus in ICU’s and the reopening of #schools”
“In order to limit the spread of the epidemic in our country, I think that it is important to stop teaching as soon as possible in all schools, regardless of age, and in universities. Analysis indicates that “the curve of intensive care at national level in Italy has been increasing for about two weeks” and that “the situation at the regional level is heterogeneous both in terms of quality and quantity”, observes Sebastiani.
There is a direct link between the increase in admissions for Covid-19 in intensive care units and the reopening of schools: “the analysis of the curves of the number of hospitalized in intensive care units in Italy indicates that the return to Teaching in presence after the Christmas holidays is conveying the current increase in the spread of the SarsCov2 epidemic in Italy “, notes the mathematician Giovanni Sebastiani , of the Institute for Calculation Applications ‘Mauro Picone’ of the National Research Council ( Cnr-Iac).
C’è un legame diretto fra l’aumento dei ricoveri per Covid-19 nelle unità di terapia intensiva e la riapertura delle scuole: “l’analisi delle curve del numero dei ricoverati nei reparti di terapia intensiva in Italia indica che il ritorno all’attività didattica in presenza dopo le vacanze di Natale sta veicolando l’attuale aumento della diffusione dell’epidemia di SarsCov2 in Italia”, rileva il matematico Giovanni Sebastiani, dell’Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo ‘Mauro Picone’ del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Cnr-Iac). “Allo scopo di limitare la diffusione dell’epidemia nel nostro Paese, penso – rileva il matematico – che sia importante interrompere quanto prima l’attività didattica in presenza in tutte le scuole, indipendentemente dalla fascia d’età, e nelle università. L’analisi indica che “la curva delle terapie intensive a livello nazionale in Italia è in aumento da circa due settimane” e che “la situazione a livello regionale è eterogenea sia a livello qualitativo che quantitativo”, osserva Sebastiani.
Teachers should be prepared to ‘sacrifice their lives’ to open #schools in coronavirus pandemic, says ex-Ofsted head
The former head of Ofsted has said that teachers need to show a “similar commitment” to medical professionals, who in some cases have “sacrificed their lives.”
Sir Michael Wilshaw, the former chief inspector of schools, said there has to be a “pulling together’ among teachers and that they have to exhibit the same level of devotion as medics who have “gone the extra” mile during the pandemic, in order to get children caught up with their studies when schools return early next month.
Image by Wokandapix from Pixabay
Around 1,500 positive #coronavirus tests in #Austria #schools since February 8th
Since the return to to- face- face teaching in Austria’s schools on February 8, around 1,500 positive coronavirus cases have been discovered after the corona tests.
In the third week alone, there were 904 positive tests – 619 for students and 285 for teachers and administrative staff, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Education. A total of 1.4 million tests have been made in schools since Monday.
Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay
Coronavirus can sicken #children in very different ways – both lung-related and #PIMS #MISC
About half the patients in the study had acute Covid-19, the predominantly lung-related illness that afflicts most adults who get sick. The rest had the inflammatory syndrome that has emerged in some children weeks after an initial infection that typically was mild.
The researchers found some similarities, but also significant differences, in the symptoms the two groups experienced and in the characteristics of the patients, who ranged in age from infants to 20-year-olds.
Jama Paper – Characteristics and Outcomes of US Children and Adolescents With Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) Compared With Severe Acute COVID-19
Pregnancy tied to estimated 70% higher #COVID19 rate
Pregnant women in Washington state were infected with COVID-19 at a 70% higher rate than others of similar ages, with nonwhite women shouldering a disproportionate burden, according to a study published yesterday in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
A team led by researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle analyzed data from 240 pregnant COVID-19 patients at 35 healthcare systems, capturing 61% of the state’s annual births, from Mar 1 to Jun 30, 2020.
They estimated that women who delivered 13.9 of every 1,000 newborns had COVID-19, compared with 7.3 of 1,000 state residents aged 20 to 39 years (rate ratio [RR], 1.7). After excluding 45 coronavirus cases detected through asymptomatic screening, the infection rate in pregnant women fell to 11.3 per 1,000 cases (RR, 1.3).
#Brescia, #Italy : “The third #coronavirus wave has started”- Infant centers, preschools and elementary schools closed
In some provinces of Lombardy, the ‘strengthened’ orange zone has been triggered to stem the spread of the coronavirus and curb the contagion linked to the covid variants. An order by Governor Attilio Fontana will establish special rules and measures for the province of Brescia and a series of municipalities: Viadanica, Predore San Martino, Sarnico, Villongo, Castelli Calepio, Credaro and Gandosso, in the province of Bergamo, and Soncino in the province of Cremona.
The rules of the orange zone strengthened
The enhanced orange zone, explains Vice President Letizia Moratti, “provides, in addition to the normal measures of the orange zone, also the closure of elementary schools, kindergartens and crèches, the prohibition of going to second homes, the mandatory use of smart working and the closure of university activities in presence “.
Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay
Denmark’s #SSI: “Even without reopening, the development of virus variant B.1.1.7 #B117 and the opening of 0-4yr class lead to slightly increasing infection rates and new admissions in mid-April”
SSI: “The expert group has all the way counted on a so-called scenario 0, where you do not open further. And where teachers are tested twice a week with an antigen test.
“Even without reopening, the development of virus variant B.1.1.7 and the opening of 0.-4. class lead to slightly increasing infection rates and new admissions in mid-April, ”says doctor Camilla Holten Møller from the expert group.
If, in addition, all graduation classes are opened, according to the group’s calculations, this will lead to a marked increase in the number of infections and the number of new admissions in mid-April.
The report also includes scenarios for 50% attendance in the graduating classes in primary and lower secondary schools and in the upper secondary and adult educations, as well as an infection-reducing effect by repeated antigen tests of 25% and 50%, respectively.”