More children fall ill with COVID-19, according to top pediatrics group

Nearly 72,000 children tested positive for COVID-19 last week, a “substantial” increase that has troubled public health advocates amid the growing wave of infections linked to the highly transmissible delta variant of the virus.

The American Academy of Pediatrics released the figures Tuesday, noting that it was an increase of nearly 85% from the previous week. Children – defined by individual states as those aged 17 or 18 and under – now account for 19% of the country’s weekly COVID-19 cases.

More than 4.2 million children have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.

The data is troubling as many children are not yet eligible for a coronavirus vaccine. Those used in the United States are only allowed for people aged 12 and older, but many schools are preparing to hold in-person classes in the fall for the first time since the pandemic took hold. last year.

The American Academy of Pediatrics noted that serious illness and hospitalization remained rare in children. Major vaccine makers are testing their products on children as young as 6 months old, but emergency use clearance is still months away.

“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 can adversely affect the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its effects on emotional health. and mental, ”the group said. noted.

A recent study by scientists in London found that children infected with the coronavirus rarely develop long-term illnesses, known colloquially as “long COVID”, suggesting that the problem may be more common in adults. The researchers found that only 4.4% of children had symptoms that lasted four weeks or more, and only 1.8% had illnesses that lasted more than eight weeks.

The report comes less than two weeks after the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended all children over the age of 2 wear face masks to school this fall, regardless of their vaccination status, citing the delta variant.

Vaccines remain the best defense against severe cases of COVID-19 and deaths associated with the disease, and studies show that all vaccines used in the United States protect well against the delta strain. Almost all of the nation’s deaths linked to the pandemic are among unvaccinated Americans, and regions with particularly low inoculation rates have seen cases increase dramatically since June.