According to the study, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, the high levels of virus correspond with live, infectious virus, and that levels are highest early in the illness in both symptomatic and asymptomatic children.

The study was led by a team from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Ragon Institute, MIT and Harvard. They studied 110 children aged two weeks to 21 years who tested positive for Covid-19 at MGH or urgent care clinics.

The researchers found no correlation between the age of the children and the amount of their viral load. Reassuringly, they also found that viral load had no correlation to severity of disease in the kids themselves, but concerns remain for them and those around them.

“Children can carry the virus and infect other people,” said Lael Yonker, pediatric pulmonologist at MGH.

“There had been the question about whether the high viral load in children correlated with the live virus. We’ve been able to provide a definitive answer that these high viral loads are infectious,” Yonker added.