(AP Photo / Ross D. Franklin)
PHOENIX – Arizona ranks at the top nationally in several categories that measure how hard the coronavirus kills children, according to a recent study.
A joint report released Aug. 6 by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association showed Arizona as the No. 1 in the nation for COVID-19 cases per thousand, positive test rate and hospitalization in children.
The study looked at cases and rates per age distribution provided by 49 states, New York City, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and Guam.
Data were not available in all categories from each state, so the ranking may not reflect Arizona’s actual positions.
Arizona, one of 32 states that measured children as young as 19 years old, had the third-highest total of cases, and followed only Florida and California, states with significantly larger populations.
Twelve percent of coronavirus cases in Arizona are children, and 5.3 percent of all hospitalizations of coronavirus in the state are children, according to the study.
Eleven Arizona children have died from the coronavirus, third most of the 45 states reporting the data and a touch below 0.05% of all cases among the state’s children.
Some Arizona schools plan to open classrooms Monday, the first day allowed under state regulation during the coronavirus pandemic, despite guidance from the state Department of Health which says COVID-19 conditions are not yet safe for traditional personal schooling to resume.
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