This is how long children with omicrons are contagious

On the fifth day, the majority are no longer contagious, American researchers write in the journal ‘JAMA Pediatrics’. In Germany, as in other countries, mainly omicron sublines such as EG.5 and XBB.1.16 are currently circulating.

The Professional Association of Paediatricians and Young People (BVKJ) currently advises that with Corona, just as with a normal cold, to keep a child at home as long as he or she feels ill, has fever or diarrhea or is vomiting. After 24 hours without complaints, you can return to daycare or school.

Quarantine with moderation and purpose
The current US study also showed that almost a fifth of registered children were still contagious on the fifth day, and almost four percent even on the tenth day. The duration was independent of the child’s vaccination status. Finding the right amount for the quarantine is important: it is important to protect the other children in the group, but at the same time not to make the time-out for the child in question unnecessarily long – because of the cancellation of lessons, but also because of the possible psychological consequences.

Infected adults are contagious for longer
The team led by Neeraj Sood of the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics in Los Angeles and Stanford University examined nasal swabs from 76 children and adolescents between the ages of seven and eighteen who tested positive for Corona over ten days. The samples were tested for infectivity in the laboratory. All participants were infected with ommicron. Previous studies have shown that adults who are infected with it remain contagious for slightly longer, an average of five days.