Dr. Joss Reimer, Public Health Physician at the University of Manitoba, says the current data suggests children might not be effective carriers of COVID-19.

She notes kids aren't adept at physical distancing or regularly washing their hands, so many worried they would help accelerate the spread of the virus.

Instead, many studies suggest children aren't the greatest risk factors. Closer to home, in Manitoba, 30 percent of the population is under the age of 20, yet only five percent of COVID-19 cases have been identified in residents in that demographic.

"It tells me either kids are not getting infected at all, or they are getting infected but having mild symptoms and not going for testing or ending up in the hospital or ICU," she says.

Reimer notes it's similar to the data coming out of China, as well as a study out of Australia that tracked 18 cases at a school (nine students, nine teachers). Out of 900 close contacts they were able to trace, only two became cases of COVID-19.

"We usually expect 10-15 percent of all people who are close contact to a case to then get the infection and become symptomatic themselves," Reimer says. "So two out of 900 is much lower than we would've expected."

When looking at whether schools should open this fall, Reimer says it's still a complicated decision with many factors to consider.

Parents should be aware that while kids seem less likely to become infected, there's still a chance a kid could become sick. "And there's kids already at risk because they have other health conditions. So I'd want parents to think about the individual kid and whether or not it makes sense for their family to have their kid going back into the school environment."

While the data suggests kids are at lower risk, she notes long-term effects are harder to predict. "Regardless of how low-risk kids are, we still want everyone to think about physical distancing and reducing the number of contact they have with other people."