Do children get SYMPTOMS of Covid 19, or are they mainly asymptomatic?

[WhatWillSantaBring]

I'm confused - I thought that, although children (primary age) can get Covid 19, they're overwhelmingly asymptomatic - i.e. don't get the cough or fever. (Ignore the sense of taste - my DC probably couldn't tell the difference between cheese and chocolate in normal circs!).

Because if children don't get the fever or the cough, how does temperature testing at the school gate help? Or do enough children get some symptoms - enough to make it a useful spread prevention exercise (rather than an exercise in helping keep people calm)?

Yes they get symptoms. My ds had cold, cough, v high temperature for over a week, vomiting, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis..... suspected covid.

A child in school was sent home with cough and temp. Confirmed covid.
Don't believe the press!

My daughter had a fever and headache

Errr, medicine isn’t an exact science. Patients will present differently so some children will exhibit symptoms.

Ds is in primary and had a cough and fever (and was ill for 2 months). Our GP diagnosed covid due to the symptoms that followed.

Two of ds’s friends also had a fever and cough in the same week that he was ill, but were better after a week or so.

Having said that though, there could have been hundreds of kids at his school who had the virus but were asymptomatic so I don’t know what the answer is!

They do have symptoms but generally milder. A fair % will be asymptomatic, as with adults, but maybe more so

We recently came back from holiday, i developed mild symptoms couple days after-whole family (4 of us) booked drive through test.
My partner and teen boy were negative, i was positive (wasnt surprised, i had some mild symptoms), but what shocked me the most was that my daughter (completely asymptomatic, bouncy, full of beans 4 year old) - tested also positive!
And all these months i was shielding her because shes slightly asthmatic too.
So go figure!
I kept looking for any indication of infection in her but all shes got is a bit of a blocked nose, and maybe she sneezed a few times. Like an allergy. Nothing else. Zero.
So really you never know..until you get it.
Im grateful and less scared now about school and stuff.

Studies vary and show anything between 20-60% being asymptomatic. Those who get symptoms are often mild and they’re not always the three symptoms on the testing list so in a way as far as testing criteria goes many are asymptomatic.

www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/08/31/our-teen-was-diagnosed-with-covid-19-april-months-later-worries-headaches-remain/

Interesting article from a journalist in New York who's family got Covid.

Based on data coming out of the states small children's symptoms are often like the common cold (so snotty, productive cough and fever) and of course so are asymptomatic. Teenagers get it like adults but are rarely dangerously ill. But the idea that 'kids dont get it' or that they dont get symptoms is bollocks.

It varies, but for example, this study of 293 infected children showed

"Asymptomatic infections were common, and were most common in children of primary school age."

0-5: 25%
6-13: 39%
14-20: 24%

mobile.twitter.com/DrZoeHyde/status/1297912567885492224

When my husband and I got Covid 3 out of 4 of our children got symptoms. The teen very poorly for 3 weeks then very intermittent breathlessness for about 3 months afterwards. 2 younger ones slight fever and sore throat for about 3 days. Middle one nothing.

I was listening to Inside Science last week, apparently the top 5 symptoms in children who have tested positive are:

• Headache
• Fatigue
• Fever
• Sore throat
• Skipping meals (loss of appetite)

Worth a listen, piece about symptoms is around 17:30 minutes in.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000lyz4

Another study:

"Important pre-print study (interpret cautiously) of 992 UK children showing 6.9% had #SARSCoV2 antibodies, suggesting they are at similar risk of infection as adults, & that young and older children are similarly susceptible. 50% were asymptomatic."
mobile.twitter.com/DrZoeHyde/status/1301554715595911168

(Link to study is in tweet)

"Half of the children (50%) who had antibodies against #SARSCoV2 were asymptomatic (although this may be subject to recall bias).

The most common symptoms were fever (31%), gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhoea and vomiting (19%), and headache (18%)."
mobile.twitter.com/DrZoeHyde/status/1301554748638674946