The COVID-19 pandemic in children and young people during 2020-2021: Learning about clinical presentation, patterns of spread, viral load, diagnosis and treatment

Abstract

The initial research questions posed by the scientists faced with SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks were focused on documenting the clinical presentation and the characteristics of the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus among CYP [1-3], and the optimal ways to diagnose CYP and treat those in need [1,4]. It quickly became apparent that younger age groups have a considerably milder clinical presentation, but also that they can very rarely develop a considerably more serious Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MISC) [1]. A special interest arose in how best to protect those particularly vulnerable. In this Editorial, we discuss the development of scientific evidence related to those research questions in children and young people during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the information available until December 1st, 2021