Childhood COVID-19 cases in US drop 7% with 225,000 under-18s testing positive last week

Childhood COVID-19 cases in the United States continue to decline after reaching record levels.

More than 225,000 American children and adolescents tested positive for the virus last week, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

The figure represents a seven percent drop from the roughly 243,000 under-18s who contracted Covid the previous week.

This brings the total of pediatric coronavirus cases to more than 5.5 million since the start of the pandemic.

Children also made up 25.7% of all U.S. cases recorded last week after accounting for 28.7% of infections the week before.

However, most pediatric cases are not severe, and virus-related deaths in children are rare, with pediatric deaths accounting for only 0.1% of all deaths from COVID-19.

Due to the low risk of serious illness and death in children, parents and doctors are divided 50/50 on whether or not to vaccinate children.

According to the AAP report, 225,978 cases of COVID-19 children were reported between September 9 and 16.

This is a decrease of 7.1% from the 251,781 cases recorded from September 2 to 9.

Currently, 14 states report 18% or more of their cumulative cases are in children: Vermont, South Carolina, Alaska, Tennessee, West Virginia, Maine, New Mexico, Minnesota, Kentucky, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Connecticut Washington and Arizona.

Vermont has the most with over 22% of all cases in the state among its youngest residents.

Meanwhile, only three states – Alabama, Florida and Utah – reported less than 12% of its cases were in children.

Additionally, in the past two weeks, eight states have seen a more than 15% increase in child cases: Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Regarding the regions of the country, the South has the most cases of children with around 110,000 reported.

Meanwhile, the Northeast had the fewest cases with less than 20,000 weekly cases.

Children have never accounted for more than 0.25% of deaths in a state, and seven states have reported no child deaths.

A total of 480 children have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including about 190 after the Delta variant began to spread rapidly.

“At present, it appears that serious illnesses from COVID-19 are rare in children,” the authors wrote.

“However, there is an urgent need to collect more data on the long-term impacts of the pandemic on children, including the ways in which the virus may adversely affect the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its effects on the disease. emotional and mental health. “

American parents are divided 50/50 on whether or not to immunize their children.

Some doctors have also suggested that children do not need to be vaccinated because of their low risk of serious illness and death.

In an April 2021 poll, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, parents were asked if they would have their child vaccinated once a COVID-19 vaccine was cleared and available for their child’s age group .

Three in 10 parents – 29% – of children under 18 said they would get their child immunized “right away” 15 percent said they plan to immunize their children only if the school requires it, and 19 percent said their child will definitely not be immunized.

A July 2021 survey, conducted by the CS Mott Children’s Hospital’s National Child Health Survey in Michigan Medicine last month, found that 39% of parents said their children had previously received a coronavirus vaccine.

However, 40 percent of parents also said that their children were “unlikely” to be vaccinated.