“The emerging data from China and Italy suggest that children appear far less likely to get infected with COVID-19 compared to adults, and that if infected, are far less likely to develop severe disease. For this reason, the biggest risk to children during the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to be from clinicians incorrectly labelling children with severe bacterial infections as having COVID-19, and thus delaying appropriate treatment. This phenomenon was observed during the H1N1 2019 pandemic. It is essential for front line clinicians to recognise the dangers resulting from this availability bias and to continue considering a broad range of diagnoses whenever assessing a child presenting with fever.”

Dr Sanjay Patel, Consultant in Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Southampton, @doctorsanjay