Study: 11% of Israeli children recovering from COVID-19 suffer from long-term symptoms
About 11% of Israeli children who have recovered from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) suffer from persistent symptoms, known as Long COVID, a Health Ministry study shows.
Israeli children from grades one to four returning to school, with restrictions, as the coronavirus lockdown eased. Givat Shmuel, Nov 1, 2020. Photo by Eitan Elhadez-Barak/TPS
Between 6.4%-8.1% of the recoveries were left with transient symptoms beyond six months, depending on their age. The study found that the older the child, the higher the chance of the child contending with Long COVID.
Among children aged 3-6 years, long-term symptoms were found among 1.8%, compared with 4.6% among 12-18 year-olds.
A correlation was also found between symptomatic illness and the likelihood of experiencing long-term symptoms. Among adolescents aged 12-18 years who developed symptoms, 5.6% had Long COVID, as opposed to 3.5 % among those who did not experience symptoms when confirmed to be positive for the virus.
According to the parents, more than a third of the children in the survey displayed an aggravation of neurological, emotional, or cognitive symptoms, such as sleep disorders or difficulty concentrating, compared to the pre-corona period.
In conclusion, based on the cumulative findings in the world, it is evident that the Coronavirus has long-term effects not only on the adult population but also among children.
The long-term pandemic means that there are thousands of children in Israel with long-term symptoms, the report underscored.
According to the Ministry of Health, 5,743 students tested positive for Corona on Monday, 7.1% of the tests, higher than the national average of about 6%.
About 160,000 students are in quarantine, 43,645 of them are defined as active patients, an increase compared to Sunday.
TPS
