The report found that Hispanic children were hospitalized for coronavirus at the highest rate, 16.4 per 100,000 people, followed by Black children at 10.5 per 100,000. In contrast, White children were admitted to the hospital at a rate of 2.1 per 100,000.
The CDC also reported higher rates of multisystem inflammatory syndrome, such as MIS-C, in these populations. Of 570 cases of MIS-C reported to the CDC by July 29, more than 74% were in Black and Spanish children.
A study released this week from the National Hospital for Children in Washington, DC, found that coronavirus rates are similarly higher among Black and Hispanic children and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
The study examined 1,000 patients tested on a Children’s National Covid-19 test site and found that just 7.3% of White children tested positive for coronavirus, as opposed to 30% of Black children and 46.4% of Spanish children . Three times as many Black children as White children reported exposure to coronavirus.
Implications for reopening of schools
Schools around the nation are currently making decisions about whether children will return to classes for person classes. A school district in Georgia that reopened this week was forced to quarantine at least 260 students and eight teachers after several members of the school community tested positive for Covid-19.
While children are less likely to develop Covid-19 disease than adults, children in the intensive care unit need to be hospitalized as often as adults, at a rate of about one in three, according to the CDC.
Dr Khalilah Gates, a specialist in lung and critical care at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, told CNN on Saturday that the CDC study provides us with new information about the impact of the virus on children that can help us make informed decisions about schools. “We can’t pass tests, and we need to have faster tests,” Gates added.
The CDC report on MIS-C notes that 64% of children with MIS-C needed intensive care, and 10 children died.
Health experts have called for additional research into the impact of coronavirus on children, especially that which would help to understand the factors driving rich racial inequality.
What drives these differences?
Experts say that social determinants of health have led to increased rates of underlying health conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension in minority communities, which have put many at greater risk for coronavirus complications.
Structural conditions also play a role. Rashawn Ray, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow with the Brookings Institution, recently noted that social distance is a privilege that people of color, who often live in densely populated areas, do not receive. He said that discrimination “bakes in” our society.
People of color are also less likely to have access to healthy food options, recreational requirements and health care.
Health experts have taken action to address the differences, while recognizing the need to establish a decades-long commitment. A good place to start, says leading infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci, is with increased testing and access to health care in minority communities.
In a Friday interview with the Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told Fauci that the differences brought to light by the pandemic were “unacceptable” and could put our society in action.
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