Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci is warning that children as young as 10 years old can transmit COVID-19.
In aninterview with MSNBC Wednesday, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said, "Children from 10 to 19 can transmit the virus to adults as well as adults can."
Disease experts have referenced these findings — published in a South Korean study in mid-July — as reasoning for children to not return to in-person classes, despite pushes to open schools by the president and several states.
Fauci acknowledged that when possible, children do need to return to school to ensure they remain mentally healthy and can receive meals.
But he also said, "[the] primary thing you need to pay attention to and be sensitive to and act on is the safety and the welfare of the children, of the teachers, and the secondary effects you might have on the families."
Fauci added that due to the size of the U.S., there couldn't be a single determinant on whether schools should open or not. The South Korean study found that children under the age of 10 were less likely to transmit coronavirus.
