1 00:00:00,333 --> 00:00:03,303 My sibling has tested positive for COVID 19. 2 00:00:03,670 --> 00:00:06,272 How likely is it to spread to others in my family? 3 00:00:06,773 --> 00:00:07,674 That's a good question. 4 00:00:07,674 --> 00:00:10,977 And one we didn't have an answer to early on in the pandemic. 5 00:00:11,011 --> 00:00:14,914 There were a lot of questions about how the SARS-CoV-2 virus was spread. 6 00:00:15,615 --> 00:00:18,651 Our team at the CHEO Emergency Department wanted to help 7 00:00:18,651 --> 00:00:22,288 answer the question about how the virus was transmitted within homes 8 00:00:22,522 --> 00:00:25,291 and what role children played in its transmission. 9 00:00:25,825 --> 00:00:29,029 We enrolled 180 households from the Ottawa area 10 00:00:29,029 --> 00:00:32,298 between September 2020 and March 2021. 11 00:00:32,565 --> 00:00:36,002 Every home had to have had at least one child within the home, 12 00:00:36,002 --> 00:00:40,607 and there had to have been at least one person who tested positive for COVID 19. 13 00:00:41,074 --> 00:00:44,344 What we discovered was that approximately 50% of household 14 00:00:44,344 --> 00:00:47,514 members were infected from the first infected individual 15 00:00:47,881 --> 00:00:50,850 and that children were an important source of that spread. 16 00:00:50,850 --> 00:00:54,821 Although kids were less likely to spread the virus compared to adults in the home, 17 00:00:54,954 --> 00:00:58,024 both children and adults were equally likely 18 00:00:58,024 --> 00:01:01,261 to become infected from the first infected individual. 19 00:01:01,795 --> 00:01:04,230 Although we are at a different stage of the pandemic now, 20 00:01:04,230 --> 00:01:07,200 with more infectious variants circulating, it's still important 21 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:10,170 to understand how the virus is spread within the house. 22 00:01:11,037 --> 00:01:13,606 We should be using our layers of protection, 23 00:01:13,606 --> 00:01:18,144 such as masking and becoming fully vaccinated against COVID 19 24 00:01:18,344 --> 00:01:22,348 to protect those who are vulnerable around us.