Childhood COVID Cases Increase 86%, Pediatrics Group Says

(Gray News) – There were 71,726 reported cases of COVID-19 in American children in one week, an 86% increase from the previous seven days, the American Academy of Pediatrics said.

The “substantial” peak towards the end of July came as many prepared to start the school year. In its weekly report, the AAP said the number of infected children steadily increased over the month after declining in early summer.

Children made up about 19% of all virus cases from July 23 to 29.

There had been 38,654 cases from July 16 to 22 and a number of around 8,500, the lowest for the year just a month earlier, in the June 24 report.

The AAP said that it currently appears that serious illness in children from COVID is rare, but there is an urgent need to collect more data on long-term impacts.

Children made up between 1.3 and 3.5% of total pandemic hospitalizations among reporting states, the AAP said. Locations reporting deaths by age said 358 children had died during the pandemic as of July 29, about 0.07% of their overall totals.

Nearly 4.2 million American children have tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic, or about 14% of cases, the rights group said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the AAP recently recommended that everyone wear face masks in schools amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant, even those who are vaccinated. Many schools across the United States do not require masks, and several states, including Florida, South Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, have banned local authorities from issuing warrants on them. masks.

The AAP Weekly Report is based on figures collected from health department websites in 49 states, New York City, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and Guam. The group said it was working with the Children’s Hospital Association to collect and share publicly available data.

A smaller subset of states reported hospitalizations and mortality by age.

According to its website, the AAP is made up of 67,000 pediatricians “committed to ensuring the optimal physical, mental and social health and well-being of all infants, children, adolescents and young adults.”

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