Over 97,000 children in the US tested positive for COVID-19 during the last two weeks of July, a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children's Hospital Association suggests, reported CBS News. The report says out of the 5 million COVID-19 cases in the US, 3,38,000 are children.
According to the report, 97,078 children tested positive for COVID-19 between July 16 and July 30, which accounts for a 40 per cent increase in the total child COVID-19 cases. The overall rate has been determined as 447 cases per 100,000 children in the population.
Children account for 0.6 per cent to 3.7 per cent of the total COVID-19 related hospitalisations, the report says. They also account for nearly 0.8 per cent of all coronavirus deaths.
"At this time, it appears that severe illness due to coronavirus is rare among children. However, states should continue to provide detailed reports on COVID-19 cases, testing, hospitalisations, and mortality by age so the effects of COVID-19 on children's health can continue to be documented and monitored," said the report.
School across the US are gearing for up reopening, and some have already opened during the first week of August. Many parents, educators and health experts objected to reopening of schools as the number of cases in the US are still increasing at a significant rate. Despite these objections, many states are going ahead with the school reopening programme.
Superintendents in more than 13,000 school across the US are trying to figure out how to keep their pupils safe during the pandemic while conducting classes. However, no consensus could be reached so far.
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