There has been a dramatic increase in coronavirus cases among children in the United States, according to a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The association noted a 90% increase in pediatric cases over four weeks.
From July 9 to August 6, confirmed cases of COVID-19 in children nationwide ranged from 200,184 to 380,174 – an increase of 179,990 new cases, according to the pediatric group.
In the last two weeks of July alone, more than 97,000 children tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the AAP.
The academy found the overall rate of pediatric cases in the United States on August 6 was 501 per 100,000 children in the population. “While children accounted for only 9.1% of all cases in states that reported cases by age, more than 380,000 children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic,” read a summary of the findings of ‘e AAP.
More than 25 children died in July from the coronavirus. Serious illness due to COVID-19, however, still appears to be rare among children, according to the association.
According to the AAP, seven states have reported 15,000 or more cumulative children COVID-19 cases. The highest numbers were found in California, Arizona, Illinois, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
American Academy of Pediatrics
The AAP urges states to continue delivering age-group COVID-19 reports “so that the effects of COVID-19 on children’s health can be documented and monitored.”
Collecting and analyzing all available data is especially critical, as school districts around the country return to some form of school.
Pediatrician Dr. Dyan Hes told CBSN on Tuesday that the rate of spread of viruses should be less than 3% for schools to reopen in an area. The COVID-19 rate is 0.88% in the state of New York, according to Hes. In Florida, it is 20%.
“You should not reopen schools where it is 20%. It should be less than 3%,” Hes said.
The Florida Department of Public Health recorded a 137% increase in cases of children COVID-19 in the past month. From July 9 to August 9, infections in children aged 17 and under more than doubled in the state, rising from 16,797 to 39,735. One day later, that number rose to 42,761, according to the Department of Health.
The state remains an epicenter of the pandemic, reporting 276 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, a new one-day record.
Hes said the inequality in cases between states makes reopening all schools impossible. “School reopening cannot be done nationally because nationally we do not stand for the same parameters,” she said.
On Monday, a high school in Georgia was seen in a viral photo showing students tightly packed in a hall temporarily closed after nine students and staff tested positive for the coronavirus, CBS Atlanta branch reported WGCL-TV. North Paulding High School in Dallas, Georgia, had reopened on August 3 for personal learning.
“They should never have to be opened, and you can see how full that school was,” Hes said.
In New York City, home of the nation’s largest school district, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a return to personal education in the fall and allowed parents until Friday night to register students for personal instruction, distance learning as a hybrid .
Hes said the situation in Georgia in New York is unlikely to happen because schools are not being completed.
“In New York, only about 25 to 30% of children will be allowed in each school building at a time,” she said. “That school did … catch (fellow) students in that hall in Georgia, that will not happen in New York.”
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