Coronavirus: Infectious disease specialist suggests letting young people infect each other

A surprising proposal from infectious disease specialist Eric Caumes in Le Parisien: he suggests “allowing” young people to be contaminated among themselves by the coronavirus, on the strict condition that they are not in contact with their parents and adults. -parents. “We will not be able to force them to wear masks everywhere and forbid them to meet, especially in the middle of summer. Admittedly, this is not politically correct, but I believe more and more that we must allow them to infect each other ”, declares the head of the infectious diseases department at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris.

“Let’s not condemn them, let’s say we have to respect the elders. By letting them become contaminated, they will contribute to collective immunity and this will be more the case at the start of the school year, in schools and universities ”, specifies the specialist in infectious diseases. A situation which is of course controversial as the theory of collective immunity (when a sufficient number of people, around 70% of the population, have been infected, the epidemic ends up going away on its own). ‘has not yet been proven, even in Sweden, where the government has chosen not to confine the population as in France, Spain or Italy.

It must be recognized that young people are less exposed than older people, and that they are more often asymptomatic than others. But it is not without risk for them either: “Young people can also have serious forms…”, recognizes Eric Caumes.

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