Why do kids tend to have milder COVID? This new study gives us a clue

By Joanna Groom, Laboratory Head, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute

A new Australian study, published overnight in Nature Communications, gives an insight into how kids’ immune systems respond to infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

It’s the first study, to my knowledge, that directly compares children and adults with mild COVID.

Children are less likely to become infected, and when they are, they are more likely to be asymptomatic. This is in contrast to other viral and respiratory infections that are more prevalent among young people.

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