'Wise to reopen primary schools first as kids handle infection better than adults': ICMR

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) DG Dr Balram Bhargava on Tuesday advised on reopening all primary and secondary schools in India, reasoning that the children can “handle [COVID-19] viral infections much better than adults.” At a press briefing on Tuesday, Bhargava cited the Scandinavian countries as an example saying that they “didn't shut their primary schools in any COVID waves.” 

It is to note that Sweden has been one of the few countries in Europe where schools were kept open despite the COVID-19 pandemic. A summary of central observations from inspection of 260 compulsory schools showed that there had been “intense preparedness” for health safety protocols that played a key role in coping with the pandemic, a European Commission report revealed. Children were also found admitted for the multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) likely to be related to COVID-19, according to the Swedish Pediatric Rheumatology Quality Register. 

However, researchers found that among the 65 children and 60 adults with COVID-19 at a hospital in New York City, children stayed in the hospital for shorter periods of time, needed ventilators less often, and had a lower death rate from COVID-19, as per the study published in Science Translational Medicine. US CDC states that just 8 children per 100,000 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized.

On July 20, the ICMR chief stated that kids have a better immune mechanism at being able to fight the COVID-19 and therefore, “once India starts considering it’ll be wise to open primary schools first before opening secondary schools.” He continued, “All the support staff, whether it be school bus drivers, teachers and other staff members in the schools need to need to be vaccinated.” The senior scientist explained, “Children have an antibody exposure similar to those in adults and can handle viral infections better than adults.” 

 AIIMS director advises 'safe' reopening 

Earlier,  AIIMS director Randeep Guleria had similarly given a nod to the prospects of reopening schools although adding that vaccinating children “can play an important role in that.” As some of the schools have remained shut since March 2020 and were impacting the education and social life of kids studying remotely,  Guleria reportedly advised resuming in-person classes in states where COVID-19 cases were declining and the positivity rate was less than 5 per cent.