\u201cThe reports do seem to indicate that this variant is more prevalent in children, as opposed to older populations,\u201d said Dr. Neil Maniar<\/a>, a professor in public health at Northeastern University in Boston.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are probably a couple of reasons why it is more prevalent among kids,\u201d Maniar said. First, it\u2019s highly mutated from previous variants, which means it\u2019s more infectious. Kids are also often in environments that make the virus spread easily (such as daycare, school, and camps), which, when combined with the fact that it\u2019s more infectious, may also help explain why this variant is showing up more in children, Maniar explained.<\/p>\n According to Dr. William Schaffner<\/a>, a professor of preventive medicine in the department of health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, this variant\u2019s prevalence in kids isn\u2019t totally unexpected. <\/p>\n \u201cThe rest of us have at least some partial immunity, because we\u2019ve had so much experience with COVID itself or with the vaccine, whereas young children are less experienced with COVID,\u201d Schaffner said.<\/p>\n Young kids may have contracted COVID less than adults, and just 9.3% of kids have received the 2025-2026 COVID shot, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s possible that this new variant is finding them more susceptible and so able to spread among children,\u201d Schaffner said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t the first time that we\u2019ve seen a variant that is more prevalent in children,\u201d Maniar said. \u201cWe had a variant a few years back that was similar, and that may be partly because [kids\u2019] immune systems are still developing. Kids don\u2019t have the same immune memory that older adults do because they just haven\u2019t been exposed over a period of time to as many different pathogens.\u201d<\/p>\n COVID rates are low overall right now. <\/p>\n Once again, this variant does not cause more severe illness than any previous variants, stressed Dr. Steven Goldberg<\/a>, a primary care and urgent care doctor and chief medical officer at HealthTrack, a testing laboratory for infectious diseases.<\/p>\n On top of that, COVID rates are low throughout the country, Goldberg added. And the number of infections caused by this specific Cicada variant is even lower. While there is data indicating that BA.3.2 more easily infects kids, this hasn\u2019t been proven in peer-reviewed publications yet. \u201cSo, we look forward to them coming out,\u201d Goldberg said.<\/p>\n The variant\u2019s ability to infect kids (specifically those ages 3 to 15) was discovered by Dr. Tulio de Oliveira, a South African doctor, according to CNN<\/a>. Using COVID data from New York, COVID variant researcher Ryan Hisner also found that BA.3.2 is more likely to infect kids, CNN<\/a> reported. Hisner also noticed this pattern<\/a> in COVID infections in children in Ireland and Ontario. <\/p>\n Narisara Nami via Getty Images<\/p>\n Research shows that kids are more likely to get infected with the emerging new COVID variant BA.3.2.<\/p>\n Between vaccination and hand washing, there are many ways to protect your kids from COVID this spring.<\/p>\n If your kids develop any COVID symptoms<\/a> (such as runny nose, fever, cough, congestion, body aches), contact their health care provider. This is especially important if your child has underlying medical conditions, Schaffner noted.<\/p>\n![\"Research](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69cff8e1140000e31886d1e0.jpeg\")
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