He says the heavily mutated ’Cicada“ variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 primarily affects children, but does not lead to a more severe illness in children or adults.
We know that the pandmide COVID 19 is primarily a threat to older adults, but that could change. While Covid-19 is currently spreading at a very low level, the US is just beginning to tackle this dormant branch of the Omicron family, a variant dubbed BA.3.2. This variant is dubbed the ’cicada“ for the insect's ability to disappear underground for years and then reappear.
According to a report quietly released last month by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this variant has been detected in wastewater in 23 countries and 25 US states. While testing has been reduced since the peak of the pandemic, it appears to be circulating at low levels and subclinical in areas where this new variant has been seen, so it may be more widespread than currently known.
Prof. Dr. Şevket Özkaya said, “We think that the current vaccines still provide some protection and the problems caused by the new variant can be easily overcome both with the existing vaccines and our experience. At the moment, thanks to previous immunity and previous vaccinations, we see no signs of any increase in hospitalizations and deaths. They are infecting children ‘quite effectively’.”.
Noting that it is difficult to interpret the spread patterns of Covid-19 viruses due to the lack of genetic sequences, Özkaya continued his warnings as follows:
“But something interesting emerged from the data, and that is that this variant seems to be more successful at infecting children than adults.
“One thing we have found is that the BA.3.2 virus does not seem to infect infants, but children between the ages of 3 and 15 quite effectively, and we don't yet know why that is,” health authorities said of the cases in South Africa. There are various theories as to why. He believes BA.3.2 is more successful at infecting children because children's immune protection from vaccines and past infections declines faster than adults.
We also point out that children at school or daycare are at another disadvantage. They are constantly surrounded by germs, making them easy targets.
For now, the idea that a variant of Covid-19 might be more effective at infecting children means that it behaves just like other respiratory viruses, such as influenza, which is transmitted every season from school-age children to their parents and grandparents.’