Nearly 226,000 cases of Covid-19 were reported in children last week, according to group of pediatricians

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Over the past week, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported the second-highest total of new diagnoses in children during the pandemic, with 225,978.

This is a slight decrease from the previous week, when 243,373 new cases were reported.

The rise in cases comes as many students return to class when they are not yet eligible for Covid-19 vaccines. Studies are underway for young children, but currently only children 12 and older can be vaccinated.

Experts and health officials have expressed concern for the safety of young students until a vaccine is cleared for them.

“After declining in early summer, child cases have increased exponentially, with more than 925,000 cases in the past four weeks,” the AAP said in a statement.

Children are still less likely to suffer from a serious illness

The number of weekly cases reported on Monday is about a 215% increase in cases in children since the week of July 22-29, when the group counted 71,726 cases.

It may take

As of September 16, more than 5.5 million children have tested positive for Covid-19.

Yet children are much less likely than adults to suffer from a serious illness or die from Covid-19. Among states that report hospitalizations by age, children represent between 1.6% and 4.2% of patients hospitalized for Covid-19.

Among states that report deaths by age, children made up no more than 0.25% of deaths. Seven states reported no pediatric deaths.

On Sunday, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 548 children under the age of 18 had died from Covid-19 in the United States.

Jonathan Pagliarulo, 11, is being tested for Covid-19, after vaccinated family members test positive for the virus.

Vaccines could be ready by the end of the year

Health experts, like CDC director Dr Rochelle Walensky, said public health agencies are working to prepare a vaccine for young children by the end of the year.

According to Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a member of the Pfizer board of directors and former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, that timeline could be as early as Halloween.

Covid-19 vaccines for young children could be authorized this fall, according to Fauci

He told CBS’s “Face the Nation” earlier this month that Pfizer is expected to have vaccine data for children ages 5 to 11 ready for the FDA by the end of September.

“The FDA says it will be a matter of weeks, not months, to determine whether they will allow vaccines for children between the ages of 5 and 11. I interpret that to be maybe four weeks, maybe six. weeks, ”Gottlieb said. .

But once these vaccines are available, it will be up to families to decide whether to vaccinate their children. And vaccination rates of eligible people are lagging behind where health experts have said they need to be to slow or stop the spread of the virus.

About 54.7% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated, according to CDC data. And pre-teens and teens have the lowest Covid-19 vaccination rates of any age group.

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