Nearly 100,000 children in the U.S. became ill with the coronavirus in the last two weeks of July, according to a new report.
The analysis, conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Association of Pediatric Hospitals, revealed a 40 percent increase in COVID-19 cases in children between July 16 and 30.
A study of 49 states, New York City, Puerto Rico and Guam, found from the summary that children made up between 3 and 11 percent of the total state tests. Between 3.6 and 17.8 percent of children test positive for the virus. Not all states reported hospitalizations of children, but among those who did, children accounted for 0.6 percent to 3.7 percent.
States used different definitions of “child”, some saying that a child is anyone 14 and younger and others even add 24-year-olds to the group. New York did not provide state-wide age divisions of cases.
In total, the report said 338,982 children were infected with the virus in the U.S., and half of the U.S. states reported more than 5,000 confirmed cases in children.
The analysis comes when the nation cheated five million cases and students returned to school in some states, some of which had to end already in-person learning due to COVID outbreaks.
How the virus affects children is not yet fully understood, but emerging research from the United Kingdom has shown that there is sometimes a link between the coronavirus and “important neurological effects” in young brains. A July study from Chicago showed that children under five can carry just as much of the coronavirus in their noses as older children and adults.
