WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th July, 2020) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield said during a task force briefing on Wednesday that the novel coronavirus has a very limited ability to cause significant illness in children.
Redfield made his remarks in light of the Trump administration's effort to pressure states to reopen schools in the fall amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Trump has said the number of deaths relative to the number of infections in the United States is down tenfold and is the lowest in the world.
"Clearly the ability of this virus to cause significant illness in children is very, very limited," Redfield said.
However, scientific studies have found that the novel coronavirus may cause Pediatric Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome (PMIS) in children, resulting in heart and kidney failure.
Redfield said the inflammatory disease is very rare and added there is a lack of evidence that shows children drive the transmission of the novel coronavirus.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump threatened to withhold Federal funding from schools if they do not reopen. Schools in the United States get the majority of their funding from the state governments.
The United States has reported more than 3 million novel coronavirus cases and more than 131,000 virus-related deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
