Daily Times

Around 15.6 million children in the United States are reported to have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to the latest report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association. About 9,000 child COVID-19 cases were reported in the latest week ending April 20, according to the report. Over the past 7 months, weekly reported child cases plateaued at an average of about 27,000 cases, while in the past four weeks the average reported weekly cases dropped further to about 11,000, according to the report.

Reported cases are likely a “substantial undercount” of COVID-19 cases among children, said the report. There is a need to collect more age-specific data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants as well as potential longer-term effects, said the report. It is important to recognize there are immediate effects of the pandemic on children’s health, but importantly there is the need to identify and address the long-lasting impacts on the physical, mental, and social well-being of this generation of children and youth, said the AAP.