Switzerland is letting its youngest residents do something they needed no permission for before the pandemic: hug their grandparents.
With older people considered at higher risk from the coronavirus, officials have spent weeks advising grandparents the world against coming into contact with their grandchildren.
So when the Swiss authorities said on Wednesday that it was safe for children under 10 to hug their grandparents — because scientists concluded that young children do not transmit the virus — the advice included the caveat that hugs should be brief.
The World Health Organization also chimed in on the debate, saying on Wednesday that it would explore whether such hugs were safe.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead for the W.H.O.’s emergencies program, acknowledged that grandparents were eager to hug their grandchildren, but cautioned that more research was required to better understand what role children play in the spread of the coronavirus.
“This is one of the living reviews we are currently working on,” she said at a news conference. “We are tracking all the studies evaluating this infection in children.”
The New York Times
More about: coronavirus
