Concerns rise as more children contract COVID-19 variant April 6, 2021 at 8:58 am First grade students at the Green Mountain School practice social distancing during recesses on Feb. 18, 2021 in Woodland, Washington. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images) COVID-19 cases among children were found to be rare. But with the stronger, more contagious variant B.1.1.7 first detected in the United Kingdom, some experts said that could be changing. “It infects kids very readily. Unlike the previous strains of the virus, we didn’t see children under eighth grade get infected often,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.