Risk of long covid in children

[SansaSnark]

twitter.com/chrischirp/status/1363473889951637504

Twitter thread here from Christina Pagel which is very measured and balanced. She is not usually alarmist about covid related stuff.

The narrative is that catching covid is ok for children, but the truth is, we don't really know what the long term impacts will be.

Personally, I think we need to be more cautious with the level of risk children are being exposed to in schools, and reopen with serious mitigation measures. School sites are very likely to be too small to open to all children at once safely, so some sort of rota system is needed.

Long term, I think we need to be putting more efforts into developing a vaccine for our children.

Nope sorry.
This was only ever meant to be to make sure the NHS wasn't overwhelmed.
Once vaccines are rolled out properly we don't need to keep on mitigating

I think the physical health of the younger generation definitely deserves proper protection, from reading that thread she is simply saying this data should be properly considered and investigated. What kind of weirdo says ‘nope’ to that?

I just wish they would crack on with the vaccine for children, at the moment they're saying the end of the year at the earliest.

Long Covid in not a thing!
But post virtual fatigue is... and that could happen with ANY virtual infection.
To me, the risk looks to be very low. Kids have lots of viral infections like colds and tummy bugs... nobody is worried about them.

Seriously just stop. There are now constant attempts to undermine easing of restrictions and I'm sick of it.
You know what is properly shit for children?
Destitute parents and a wrecked economy.

@MaxNormal

Seriously just stop. There are now constant attempts to undermine easing of restrictions and I'm sick of it. You know what is properly shit for children? Destitute parents and a wrecked economy.

This.

1 in 8 is not very low. If 1 in 8 children were getting long term effects from a sickness bug then I’d be concerned about that too. They’re not.

GOSH are obviously a little bit concerned that it is ‘a thing’

www.gosh.nhs.uk/conditions-and-treatments/conditions-we-treat/paediatric-inflammatory-multisystem-syndrome-pims/

Ylva I must tell ds’s consultant, who diagnosed him with long covid, that it’s not a thing. I’m sure his years of experience as a paediatrician are nothing compared to the opinion of an internet random

MaxNormal Do you know what’s also properly shit for children? Not being able to play football anymore because 11 months post-Covid, he can’t run without getting out if breath and nearly passing out. Shit is being so wiped out that you miss Fridays at school because by Thursday you’re so exhausted that your body weighs a ton and the pain of moving makes you cry. Imagine having a painful flare up of your original symptoms every week at 11 years old. Ill for 11 months.

Oh and to Ylva again. Yes, other viruses can cause long term complications. But he’s vaccinated against all of them, protecting him from that risk. Always a weird argument “well, people don’t worry about other viral infections!” Yet guaranteed you get your kids their MMR jabs and flu vaccine. Your logic doesn’t work, does it?

There are always going to be a small number of people who have bad reactions to any disease.

Generally I am satisfied the risk to children is extremely low.

[quote OppsUpsSide]GOSH are obviously a little bit concerned that it is ‘a thing’

www.gosh.nhs.uk/conditions-and-treatments/conditions-we-treat/paediatric-inflammatory-multisystem-syndrome-pims/[/quote]
PIMs and long covid are not the same thing at all.

During the study period, the rate of PICU admissions for PIMS-TS was at least 11-fold higher than historical trends for similar inflammatory conditions. Clinical presentations and treatments varied. Coronary artery aneurysms appear to be an important complication. Although immediate survival is high, the long-term outcomes of children with PIMS-TS are unknown.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(20)30215-7/fulltext

I don’t know how anyone could argue it is not a concern.

And Sansa thank you for posting the link. It always a good thing to get more attention/research focused on potential long term effects for anyone and important to raise this when so many people are so blasé about any effects on children. Luckily it is really rare for children to even have symptoms with covid, which is a really good thing.

However, the outright denial of it being able to affect children at all, despite the evidence of it happening, is really weird. Yes, is much prefer it wasn’t true too, as would he. Unfortunately he doesn’t get that choice.

My DD had long covid (or post viral fatigue plus heart issues as a result of covid) for 7 months. She had no prior conditions. In fact she was super fit / sporty and healthy. She's 9. She is 90% recovered thankfully but it is 'a thing' in kids. My other DC had covid and was fine within 4 weeks.

But despite going through hell seeing her so unwell I still think schools should be open. I do however believe parents should be allowed to decide whether they send their kids in or not. My DD wants to go and I will send her (if it is open) because her mental health suffered being so unwell for so many months and she really loved being back in (albeit part time due to still being unwell), school in the Autumn term. This is an incredibly difficult decision and situation. There is no right answer other than perhaps making schools as safe as possible, rota teaching, smaller classes, outdoor learning, masks from whatever age it is believed to be useful, speeding up the vaccine.

What I would say though is we certainly don't know the long term effect of covid or long covid in kids. I look at her now and she is not who she was a year ago, she's been 'well' for 3 months now but she's nowhere near her old energy levels or cognitive ability. I tell myself that will come back in time (and hopefully strengthened by the return to some sort of normality, seeing friends etc) and I bloody well hope it does do!

Long term, I think we need to be putting more efforts into developing a vaccine for our children.

Which is what is happening.

PIMs and long covid are not the same thing at all.

Oh well that’s ok then, thanks!

@OppsUpsSide

PIMs and long covid are not the same thing at all.

Oh well that’s ok then, thanks!

They are two different conditions. You can't just lump them together and talk about them like they are the same thing. The OP was talking about long covid

I agree op it's crazy. We know misc which we didnt last mar.
We know that other flu pandemics caused parkinsonism in some people. Adults have lung and heart damage.
Interesting that twitter thread shows the hospitalised had no long term symptoms maybe that is the oxygen

We dont know whether kids get immunity after infection. So these ones could keep getting it.

@OliveTree75 I know PIMs and long covid aren't the same thing but to be honest my DD who has been diagnosed and in hospital twice due to long covid had several of the symptoms of PIMS. I am sure there's some crossover in symptoms given that we know Covid causes an inflammatory response.

@MaxNormal

Seriously just stop. There are now constant attempts to undermine easing of restrictions and I'm sick of it. You know what is properly shit for children? Destitute parents and a wrecked economy.

Also agree with this.

Olive unfortunately that actually isn’t a very comforting through to be honest.

*thought

@OppsUpsSide

Olive unfortunately that actually isn’t a very comforting through to be honest.

Ok

Just stop ffs.

The biggest risk to children at the moment is the stalling of their development, lack of education and their mental health. Enough already.

I believe the definition of ‘long Covid’ she’s using is symptoms after 4/5 weeks. Not unusual for a viral disease.