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August 24, 2021 – Weekly cases of COVID-19 in children jumped nearly 50% in the United States, posting the highest number since peaking at a pandemic in mid-January, according to a new report.
The 180,175 new cases reported from August 13 to 19 represent the highest total in a week since the peak of 211,466 during the week of January 8 to 14. The latest weekly figure represents a 48% increase from the previous week and an increase of over 2,000% in the 8 weeks since the national count fell to a low of 8,500 from June 18-24, l The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association said in its weekly COVID report.
Meanwhile, vaccinations seem to be going in the opposite direction. Initial vaccinations were down for the second week in a row, dropping 18% among those 12 to 15 years old and 15% among 16 and 17 year olds, according to CDC data.
Nationally, about 47% of children aged 12 to 15 and 56% of those aged 16 to 17 had received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine as of August 23, with 34% and 44%, respectively, reaching full vaccination. The total number of children who have received at least one dose is 11.6 million, including a relatively small number (around 200,000) of children under the age of 12, the CDC said on its COVID Data Tracker.
Childhood immunization rates vary widely from state to state. In Vermont, 73% of children aged 12 to 17 had received at least one dose by August 18, and 63% were fully immunized. But in Wyoming, just 25% of children had received at least one dose (17% are fully immunized), while Alabama has the nation’s lowest full immunization rate of 14%.
There are seven states where more than 60% of 12 to 17 year olds have at least started the vaccination schedule and five states where less than 30% have received at least one dose, the American Academy of Pediatrics noted.
Mississippi and Hawaii have seen the largest increases in new cases in the past 2 weeks, followed by Florida and West Virginia.
A total of 4.6 million children had been infected with the coronavirus as of August 19, or 14.6% of all cases since the start of the pandemic. There have been more than 18,000 children hospitalized, which is just 2.3% of the total for all ages in the 23 states (and New York City) that report such data.
The number of child deaths linked to COVID is now 402 after the largest one-week increase (24) since the end of May 2020.
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