Utah Children Ask Doctors Questions About COVID-19
Apr 8, 2020, 7:55 PM
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The coronavirus can be especially confusing for children. Life has changed dramatically for them and it’s a lot to take in. KSL took their questions to an expert.
Rushy
Rushy Bell, age 4, knows about COVID-19.
“It’s a sickness that gets people sick,” said Rushy, who lives in Salt Lake City.
He had questions, and Dr. Daniel Chappell, from the Ogden Clinic in Farmington, has answers.
“What can we do if someone gets sick,” Rushy asked.
“We can help them the most by wishing them well, (and) thinking about them,” Chappell said. “You can call them on the phone and do a Facetime or Zoom chat with them and let them know you love them.”
We talked to older kids, too, ages 10 to 14. They wanted to know how the virus spreads.
Isabella
Isabella Larson, age 12, of Eagle Mountain, asked, “Are there any other unidentified ways to catch it?”
“No,” Chappell said. “Air droplets, coughs or sneezes. It gets into the air around them and lands on your desk or table or clothes or things and you breathe it in and that’s how you catch it.”
Kate
Kate Gottfredson, age 11, from Salt Lake, said, “I would like to know why it’s so much more contagious than other viruses?”
Chapell said it’s no more contagious than the common cold.
“The reason why we’re more worried about it spreading or being contagious is because the virus is more deadly,” he said. “It causes more people to go to the hospital than most viruses.”
Children also asked about the range and scope of the virus.
Lila
Lila Ashby, age 12, of Kearns, asked, “How many people are being affected right now, and is it going to get worse?”
“Right now in the United States, it’s affecting thousands or people,” Chappell said. “In our state, it’s currently getting worse, but in other states it’s probably at its peak or at its top right now.”
Carter
Carter Lynch, age 13, from Salt Lake City, asked, “How many asymptomatic carriers are there in the US?”
“I would guess that there are at least twice as many asymptomatic carriers as there are people infected, and I know we have thousands of cases in the United States of those who are infected,” Chappell said. “Luckily in Utah, that number is much, much lower.”
What we’d all like to know: Sam Limburg, age 13, of Salt Lake City, asked, “I’m just kind of wanting to know when this is all going to be over?”
“Probably in a couple of months,” Dr. Chappell said. “We’re just starting to see it ramp up and get worse before it gets better.”
If the coronavirus were Legos, Rushy has a solution.
“Um, break them,” he said.
He then smashed his Legos several times to show us just how he’d do it. Imagining when life for kids, and for all of us, gets back to normal.
