Kids under 15 have a one in 3.5 MILLION chance of dying from coronavirus

CHILDREN under the age of 15 have a one in 3.5 million chance of dying from coronavirus, research has shown. This is while studies also show that children have more chance of being hit by lightning than dying of Covid-19. In England and Wales just two children aged five to 14 have died from Covid-19, […]

CHILDREN under the age of 15 have a one in 3.5 million chance of dying from coronavirus, research has shown.

This is while studies also show that children have more chance of being hit by lightning than dying of Covid-19.

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In England and Wales just two children aged five to 14 have died from Covid-19, which is equivalent to one in every 3.58 million in that age group.

But this jumps to one in 3,478 for adults aged 45 to 64 and one in 55 for those 90-plus.

Data from the Office of National Statistics, analysed by experts at Cambridge University also found that no children between the ages of five and nine have lost their lives to the virus.

So far in the UK over 40,000 people have died from Covid-19 and various studies have shown that children are at a small risk from the virus.

This is while data from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents states that between 30 and 60 people are hit by lightning every year in the UK.

While it’s unclear how many of these are children, there is a risk of one in 2.21 million and one in 1.1 million each year.

Good Morning Britain’s Dr Hilary also highlighted the findings this morning and said: “What I would say about schools is if you look at the age groups the risk of anyone dying of coronavirus between the age of 5-14 is much less than being struck by lightening, about one in 3.5 million.”

Michael Gove had previously said that the impact of Covid-19 on children is “significantly less”.

Researchers have also previously claimed that opening up schools and nurseries is unlikely to have an impact on Covid-19 death rates among older people.

Schools in England opened again on June 1, but many parents have opted to keep their children at home.

Classrooms across most of Europe have now reopened and there has not been a spike in cases because of this.

A team of scientists at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Karolinska Institute, near Stockholm, in Sweden, said that kids aren’t the “main drivers of the pandemic“.

Low risk

They carried out a systematic review of more than 47 separate studies which showed that children are a low risk of catching, spreading and suffering severe symptoms of the bug.

Children are also unlikely to infect their families or teachers, the researchers said.

Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter from Cambridge University yesterday said a solution to the pandemic might be to look at how community outbreaks of other illnesses are managed.

Sir David, 66, said: “I remember this pre-vaccination era, as a kid I was sent around to go and play with friends, who had measles, mumps, chickenpox… the lot.

“I’m not suggesting this is the public health solution but if no vaccine comes along, you might think that way.”

So-called “pox parties” were popular in the pre-vaccine era when parents believed a disease was less severe in childhood or wanted to “get it over with”.

Studies show children suffer less severe coronavirus symptoms and are less likely to die from it. They are also thought to spread it less.