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by hedora 2287 days ago
Some health professional floated the theory that kids aren’t getting it as much as the rest of the population because they’ve recently been hammered with all the coronaviruses at daycare.

I’m hoping this is true, since it suggests new parents are mostly OK too.

2 comments

The theory I've heard: Children mostly rely on their innate immune system compared to adults, where the adaptive immune system is more fully developed. In elderly people, the immune response of both systems is slower/weaker.
I keep searching for animal studies on this and come up empty - all I can find is some studies on serological cross response when testing people for SARS exposure.

Vaccines are obviously the best bet, but I wonder whether deliberately exposing the healthy to common cold Coronavirus might improve herd immunity against this Coronavirus. E.g. maybe in late summer it can be used to forestall a second wave of Coronavirus spread in the winter.

Do it like we did smallpox? Worth a shot...