Coronavirus: 97,000 American children test positive for COVID-19 in 2 weeks

According to a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics, 97,078 children tested positive for the novel coronavirus between July 16 and July 30.

As of July 30, 338,982 children tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. At that time, 3.8 million Americans had tested positive for the virus. That’s about 8.8% of all cases in states reporting cases by age, the agency said.

The U.S. reached a grave milestone Sunday, reporting 5 million positive cases of the virus in total. The nation has more cases than any other country in the world. Brazil has the second highest number of cases with just over 3 million, according to data from Johns Hopkins University & Medicine.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most children with COVID-19 are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. The AAP reported severe illness in children is not common, and hospitalization among children with the virus is significantly lower than adults. But when they are hospitalized, one in three children are admitted to the intensive care unit, a CDC study found.

Since March 1, just under 600 children have been hospitalized due to coronavirus complications. Black and Hispanic children have the highest rates of hospitalization, according to the CDC report. Forty-two percent of children in the study had one or more underlying health conditions.

As of July 30, the states with the highest cumulative numbers of pediatric coronavirus cases are California, Florida, Arizona, Tennessee, Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina in descending order, according to the AAP.

The organization noted that New York, Texas and Alabama did not provide sufficient statewide data that could be considered for their studies.

See the full report by the American Academy of Pediatrics here.

Cox Media Group