Children of all ages can become ill with Covid, but most children who are infected typically don't become as sick as adults.
And while children and adults experience similar symptoms of the virus, the symptoms in youngsters tend to be mild and cold-like.
However, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has warned the Government that the largely unvaccinated younger population is at higher risk as restrictions are lifted.
He explained: "As seen in other countries with similar experiences with Omicron, the removal of social and economic restrictions will result in increased opportunities for the virus to transmit and may lead to an increase in disease incidence, including in children, many of whom have not yet had the opportunity to be vaccinated".
The news comes as the latest data shows a rise in cases in five to 12-year-olds in the first half of the month, with 15,321 children officially catching the Omicron variant, although the actual number is expected to be higher.
Parents of vulnerable children should take particular care as the virus may result in more severe levels of illness. However, most children recover within one to two weeks.
Symptoms to watch out for include:
- Fever
- Cough that becomes productive
- New loss of taste or smell
- Changes in the skin, such as discoloured areas on the feet and hands
- Sore throat
- Gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, belly pain or diarrhoea
- Chills
- Muscle aches and pain
- Extreme fatigue
- New severe headache
- New nasal congestion
If your child has symptoms of Covid, they need to stay at home and isolate from other people, get tested, find out what type of test they should get and wear a medical respirator or well-fitted face mask, depending on their age.
Testing and children
Children should do antigen tests if they:
- are age four or older and have symptoms of COVID-19
- are age four or older and are a household close contact
- have a confirmed case of COVID-19 in their pod at school or childcare
- have two or more confirmed cases of COVID-19 in their group or class in different pods within a 7-day period
Children aged three months to 3 years old should get a PCR test if they have symptoms of COVID-19.
If any of your child's tests are positive, you need to:
- isolate them from other people and keep them at home
- report their positive test result and close contacts, if they have been using antigen tests
They can return to school or childcare when both of these apply:
- they have not had a high temperature (38 degrees Celsius or over) or other symptoms for 48 hours
- it has been seven days since they first developed symptoms
Negative test
If your child is using antigen tests because they have symptoms of Covid, they should do all three antigen tests.
They can return to school, childcare and their usual activities if their tests are negative and they have not had symptoms of Covid for 48 hours.
