Though COVID-19 so far appears to be largely sparing children, researchers are cautioning that it is critical to understand how the virus affects kids to model the pandemic accurately, limit the disease's spread and ensure the youngest patients get the care they need.

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The warning comes from Steven L. Zeichner, MD, PhD, the head of UVA Health's Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, and Andrea T. Cruz, MD, MPH, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine. They have authored a commentary in the journal Pediatrics accompanying a new article that reveals a small percentage of infected children become seriously ill. Those at greatest risk include babies and preschoolers.

"Many infectious diseases affect children differently than adults and understanding those differences can yield important insights," the commentary authors write. "This will likely be true for COVID-19, just as it was for older infectious diseases."