More than 243,000 children tested positive for COVID-19 last week, marking the second-highest week in pediatric cases, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
Last week, children accounted for 28.9% of cases. Children represent 22.2% of the population.
Across the U.S., approximately 2,200 children are in hospitals for COVID-19. Texas currently leads the country with 377 children receiving care, followed by Ohio with 258 children and Florida with 168 children.
Cases among children increased “exponentially” this summer, the organizations wrote, and in the last month alone the United States reported more than a million pediatric cases.
More than 1.2 million children have tested positive since they returned to classrooms in late July.
Serious illnesses due to COVID-19 remain “uncommon” among children, the two organizations wrote in the report. However, the AAP and CHA warned that there is an urgent need to collect more data on the long-term consequences of the pandemic on children, “including ways in which the virus can harm long-term physical health. of infected children, as well as their emotional and mental health effects. “
-Arielle Mitropoulos of ABC News