Here’s one cause for relief: COVID-19 is less prevalent in kids, including here in SLO County

Ever since the start of this awful pandemic, there’s been one bright spot: Children have been much less affected by coronavirus than adults.

That first became apparent in China where, in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak, only 2.4% of reported cases were in children, and most of those illnesses were mild.

According to the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department, new information shows more children than initially thought are becoming infected.

“However, the overwhelming majority of infected youth have mild symptoms (if any),” a public health spokesman said via email.

So far, only three children in San Luis Obispo County have tested positive, including two Arroyo Grande High School students who had, at most “very mild symptoms,” county Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein said.

But children still can be carriers of the disease, which is why health officials advise social distancing, even for little kids.

Going outdoors is fine, as long as there’s no contact with non-family members. That means no basketball games. No pushing strangers on the swings. No allowing toddlers to crawl over one another at the “tot lot” at the park.

“It really does mean certain types of recreation are going to be looked at differently,” Borenstein.

As of Saturday, there were 67 known cases of coronavirus in San Luis Obispo County. Here’s the age spread:

Ages 0 to 18: 3

Ages 18 to 49: 27

Ages 50 to 64: 17

Ages 65 and up: 20

California coronavirus cases involving children

Elsewhere in California, there have been a handful of much-publicized cases of younger people, including infants, becoming seriously ill with COVID-19. And on Saturday, it was announced that an infant died of coronavirus in Illinois.

A California teenager may have died due to coronavirus, though health officials are still investigating that case.

It was initially reported that a 17-year-old boy from Lancaster died of the virus, but according to the Los Angeles Times, medical officials now say they need to do more testing to determine if COVID-19 really was the cause of death.

So, yes, COVID-19 can be life-threatening at any age, though statewide statistics illustrate that the vast majority of children are spared.

As of Friday, 4,643 people had tested positive for coronavirus in California. Here’s the breakdown by age group provided by California Department of Public Health.

Age 0 to 17: 54 cases

Age 18 to 49: 2,368 cases

Age 50 to 64: 1,184 cases

Age 65 and older: 1,016 cases

Unknown: 21 cases

The numbers point out a couple of things:

First, adults ages 18 to 49 aren’t invulnerable to this disease. They make up the largest number of cases, reinforcing how important is to maintain social distancing in that age group.

And second, so far children continue to be the least affected age group, by a wide margin.

Scientists aren’t sure why this is happening, but whatever the reason, we’ll take it.

It’s a relief — especially for parents of young children — to know that as bad as this may get in the coming weeks and months, there is one saving grace: an entire generation of children won’t be decimated by COVID-19.

This has been updated with information about infant death in Illinois.

This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 10:48 AM.