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In the latest data released by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), children now represent 26.8 percent of new weekly COVID-19 cases nationwide as health officials encourage all eligible parties to get vaccinated against the virus to help curtail the spread of the virus.
According to the latest report, more than 250,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported among children in the past week out of nearly 940,000 new infections that were reported in the US between Thursday, Aug. 26, and Thursday, Sept. 2.
“If we want to protect the children, particularly those who are not yet eligible for vaccination, you want to surround the children with people who are vaccinated -- teachers, school personnel, everyone else,” infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said this week.
In the prior two weeks, children represented less than a quarter of new cases, at approximately 22 percent.
“As of (Sept.) 2, over 5 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic,” the AAP said in the latest report. “About 252,000 cases were added the past week, the largest number of child cases in a week since the pandemic began.
“After declining in early summer, child cases have increased exponentially, with over 750,000 cases added between (Aug.) 5 and (Sept.) 2.”
Officials made note that while the data has seen a rise in new cases among children, COVID-19-related hospitalization and death is still uncommon among children.
“At this time, it appears that severe illness due to COVID-19 is uncommon among children,” they said.
“However, there is an urgent need to collect more data on longer-term impacts of the pandemic on children, including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects.”
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