COVID-19 may be the gift you get at a birthday party

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-06-22 01:00

International

Birthdays, and the social gatherings that go with them, have been linked to increased rates of diagnosed COVID-19 infection within households in places with high rates of COVID-19. The US study of more than 6.5 million people found that the presence of a birthday within a household was linked to greater rates of COVID-19 diagnosis in the two weeks after the birthdays. The study also there was a larger increase in COVID-19 infections after a kids birthdays than an adults birthday.

Media release

From: JAMA

Using Birthdays to Assess Association Between Social Gatherings, COVID-19 Risk

What The Study Did: Using administrative healthcare data on 2.9 million households, this study suggests that events that lead to small and informal social gatherings, such as birthdays, and in particular, children’s birthdays, are a potentially important source in SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

Authors: Anupam B. Jena, M.D., Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School in Boston, is the corresponding author.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Internal Medicine

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Harvard Medical School, USA

Funder: Support was provided by grant 1K01AG061274 from the National Institutes on Aging (Dr Whaley).

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