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Study shows kids more likely to spread COVID-19 in their household

The study by the University of Florida shows kids are 60-percent more likely to spread COVID-19 in their homes than people who are 60 and older.

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Pediatrician doctor examining sick child in face mask. Ill boy in health clinic for test and screening. Kids home treatment of virus. Coronavirus pandemic. Covid-19 outbreak. Patient coughing.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A University of Florida study found that kids are more likely to spread COVID-19 in their homes than older adults.

Researchers looked at contact tracing from 27,000 households in Wuhan, China, over a five-month period, according to the study published in The Lancet.

What they found was people who are younger than 20 years old were 60-percent more likely to spread COVID-19 in their homes than people who are 60 and older.

The study also found that people who were asymptomatic were 80-percent less infectious.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most children experience mild symptoms or none at all.

It should be noted that another study from the CDC showed COVID-19 rarely spread in schools if proper safety protocols were followed.

Those precautions are primarily mask-wearing and proper social distancing.

But explicit mandates for either vary by district here in Florida, where students have been offered either in-person or virtual learning options since the governor mandated schools to reopen last summer.

And, the CDC advises indoor and close contact sports and other extracurricular activities remain on hold because they don’t allow for safe social distancing or mask-wearing.

RELATED: Schools aren’t spreading COVID-19 like we initially thought, CDC finds, if precautions are in place

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