Los Angeles [United States]: More than 107,000 child COVID-19 cases were reported in the United States during the past week, up by about 72 per cent from two weeks ago, according to the latest report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association.
It marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase in child COVID-19 cases in the United States, published on Monday.
According to the report, almost 13.3 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic in the country with over 316,000 of them detected in the past four weeks.
Nearly 5.4 million child COVID-19 cases have been reported nationwide so far in 2022.
The report showed that children represent 19 per cent of all COVID-19 cases in the United States.
There is an urgent need to collect more age-specific data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants and potential longer-term effects, said the AAP.
“It is important to recognize there are immediate effects of the pandemic on children’s health, but importantly we need to identify and address the long-lasting impacts on the physical, mental, and social well-being of this generation of children and youth,” it said.
