On the Effect of Age on the Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Households, Schools, and the Community

  1. Edward Goldstein
  2. Marc Lipsitch
  3. Muge Cevik

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Abstract

Background

There is limited information on the effect of age on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection in different settings.

Methods

We reviewed published studies/data on detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection in contacts of COVID-19 cases, serological studies, and studies of infections in schools.

Results

Compared to younger/middle-aged adults, susceptibility to infection for children younger than 10 years is estimated to be significantly lower, while estimated susceptibility to infection in adults older than 60 years is higher. Serological studies suggest that younger adults (particularly those younger than 35 years) often have high cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the community. There is some evidence that given limited control measures, SARS-CoV-2 may spread robustly in secondary/high schools, and to a lesser degree in primary schools, with class size possibly affecting that spread. There is also evidence of more limited spread in schools when some mitigation measures are implemented. Several potential biases that may affect these studies are discussed.

Conclusions

Mitigation measures should be implemented when opening schools, particularly secondary/high schools. Efforts should be undertaken to diminish mixing in younger adults, particularly individuals aged 18–35 years, to mitigate the spread of the epidemic in the community.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.07.19.20157362: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

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  2. Version published to 10.1093/infdis/jiaa691
  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.07.19.20157362v2 on medRxiv
  4. Version published to 10.1101/2020.07.19.20157362v1 on medRxiv