COVID-19 cases among children are continuing to decline as the surge that struck the country’s youth this summer winds down.
A new report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) found that 173,469 children tested positive for the virus in the week that ended on September 30, a 16 percent decrease from the previous week.
It is the lowest weekly total recorded since the week that ended on August 12, when 121,427 cases were recorded.
However, most pediatric cases are not severe and virus-related fatalities among children are rare with pediatric deaths making up less than 0.1 percent of all COVID-19 deaths.
The downward trend in recent weeks is following the national case rate as well, as cases decline nationwide after a massive summer surge fueled by the Delta variant.
The AAP finds that 173,469 children tested positive for the virus during the week that ended on September 30, a 16% drop from the previous week
A large portion, more than 60,000 children who contracted the virus live in the South (green), compared to fewer than 30,000 in the Northeast (blue)
The week of the report is the first time there have been fewer than 200,000 child Covid cases in a week since the week than ended August 19.
Children also accounted for 26.7 percent of COVID-19 cases recorded during that week.
Just over 16 percent of cases recorded in the U.S. since the pandemic began have been detected among children.
A large portion of these cases are in the South, which recorded more than 60,000 youth Covid cases that week while fewer than 30,000 were recorded in the Norrtheest.
In total, 5.9 million child Covid cases have been reported since the pandemic began last spring – or 7,838 per every 100,000 children in America.
Children never made up more than 0.27 percent of deaths in a state and seven states states reported zero child deaths.
In total, 520 children have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began, about 228 of which occurred after the Delta variant started rapidly spreading.
Children account for more than one out of every five Covid cases recorded since the pandemic began in six states
In six states – Arkansas, Maine, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and West Virginia – more than one out of every five cases recorded in the state have been a youth case.
Arkansas, Florida and Utah have recorded the lowest proportion of cases among children, all at just over 12 percent.
Children who do get the virus are unlikely to suffer severe symptoms, require hospitalization, or die because of the virus.
Minors account for 2.5 percent of all Covid hospitalizations during the pandemic, and just under one percent of children who catch the virus require hospitalization.
In total, 22,429 kids have been hospitalized due to the virus, with 615 during the week of the report.
Currently, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the only one available to minors, and only for children who are 12 or older.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 62 percent of Americans aged 16 or 17 and 55 percent of those 12 to 15 have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine.
Children who test positive for the virus are much less likely to suffer serious complications or die than adults (file image)
American parents are currently split 50/50 on whether or not they will immunize their children.
Polls find that parents of children seem to be evenly split on whether or not their kids will be receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
One survey, conducted by CS Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health at Michigan Medicine in July, that 39 percent of parents said their children already gotten a coronavirus shot.
However, 40 percent of parents also said it was ‘unlikely’ that their children would be getting vaccinated.
Another poll from Axios/Ipsos in September found that 44 percent of parents of children aged five to 11 said their kids were likely to get a vaccine and 42 percent said it was unlikely their children would be immunized
Source link : https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10061591/COVID-19-cases-children-fall-16-173-000-week.html
