Children can still become infected and spread the illness to other children and adults. But compared to older adults, children develop severe illness much less often. A new study published in the Science Translational Medicine journal looked at the immune response to COVID-19 in 65 children and 65 adults. READ: CDC says new guidance on airborne coronavirus transmission was ‘posted in error’Some children still do develop severe disease. Children infected with SARS-CoV-2 do not develop as severe illness as adults -- even among children who develop multi-system inflammatory syndrome, death is rare.