Almost 100,000 children tested positive for the coronavirus during a two-week period amid a national discourse over safely reopening schools during the pandemic.
There were 97,078 new cases of the coronavirus for children in the United States between July 16-30, according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The report noted this is a 40% increase in child cases.
A total of 338,982 children in the U.S. have tested positive for the virus, which is about 8.8% of the 3.8 million cases recorded in the country through July.
The states with the largest number of pediatric coronavirus cases were California, Florida, Arizona, Tennessee, and Illinois.
Children are less at risk for having a serious bout of the coronavirus, but “one in three hospitalized children was admitted to an intensive care unit,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The American Academy of Pediatrics report noted that children made up less than 1% of coronavirus deaths in the 44 states that provided data for the report on child mortality during the pandemic. Additionally, 20 states reported having no deaths among children.
Even though children are less likely to experience a severe case of the coronavirus, they can still be asymptomatic carriers and may pass it along to others who are more vulnerable.
With the coming of the new school year, a debate is raging over whether to return to in-person learning. Some, including the Trump administration, have pushed for schools to reopen this fall, citing the low death rate among children. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last week that schools in his state may reopen in the fall, but school districts will decide whether classes are held in person or online.
Already, there have been setbacks reported in some places, including a Georgia high school that temporarily shut back down due to an outbreak.
