Children are about 40 percent less likely to be infected with COVID-19 than adults when they are exposed to someone with the virus. In a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics, researchers from the University College London reviewed and analyzed almost 14,000 studies to understand how likely it is that children catch COVID-19 and whether they pass it on to others. While children under 14 appeared significantly less likely to contract COVID-19 from infected people, the data for older teenagers was less clear. They concluded that children play a lesser role in transmission of the virus because fewer children will be infected in the first place.