While President Donald Trump insisted that children are “almost immune” to catching COVID-19, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently found that there was a 90 percent increase in children who carried the virus for four weeks.
An AAP report released on August 6 found that there have been 380,174 cases among children, representing 9.1 percent of all available cases at present. Between July 9 and August 6, child cases are up by 90 percent overall.
The report was based on data from 49 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and Guam. Texas reported age in only 8 percent of cases, while the state of New York did not include a statewide distribution of cases per age, although the report includes data from New York City.
During a Tuesday morning appearance on Fox Sports Radio Outkick the coverage Trump noted that “young children, almost no one has a serious problem with” COVID-19. One day before the release of the AAP report, the president claimed during an appearance on Fox News that children are “almost immune” to catching the virus.
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“If you look at children, children are almost, and I would say almost certainly, but almost immune to this disease,” Trump said during a 5-day performance on Fox and Friends. “I do not know how you feel about it, but they have stronger immune system than we once did … and they have no problem, they just have no problem.”
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The president had made similar remarks claiming that the “great” immune system of children makes them virtually invulnerable to the disease before he appeared on Fox News, while pushing for schools to reopen for personal learning across the country.
“Young people are almost immune to this disease. The younger, the better, I think,” Trump said in a July 30 news release. “Young people are almost immune. If you look at the percentage, it’s a thin percentage of 1 percent. It’s a small percentage of 1 percent. So we need to keep our schools open.”
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The Trump administration also touted a June report by the AAP in promoting school relocation. The report “Strongly” Proposed Policy Recommendations is made “with the aim of having students physically present at school,” noting harmful effects on children who do not attend school, while warning that openings should be subject to change or adjusted based on ‘ the course of the pandemic.
In July, the group issued a second statement to clarify that they do not reopen a call for schools in areas where the virus is spreading rapidly against the judgment of local experts, or without strict protection and preventive measures, including social distance and mask wear. , adherence to recommendations should be “based on evidence, not politics.” The updated statement was not promoted by the White House.
Although experts agree that children suffer from less severe forms of COVID-19, they do not believe that the virus is risk-free for younger people. A number of children, including some beekeepers, are known to have died from the virus. Scientists remain unsure of how easily children can contract the virus, although evidence suggests that those 10 or older are more likely to contract it at similar rates as adults. The role of children in spreading the virus to other, potentially vulnerable, populations is also unclear.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment.
