The number of children in the United States infected with the coronavirus jumped 25% between December 3 and 17, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported Monday.
More than 1.8 million children across the US have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, the AAP said in its latest report.
Over 182,000 cases in children were reported last week alone, the highest weekly increase since the pandemic began, the group said.
Severe illness, hospitalization and death from the virus is still rare among children.
“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,” the AAP said on its website.
As of December 17, children represented between 1.1% and 2.8% of total hospitalizations, depending on the state. Between 0.2% and 4.0% of all child Covid-19 cases resulted in hospitalizations in states that reported that information and fewer than 0.21% of all children with Covid-19 died. Thirteen states reported no deaths in children. In states reporting, 0.09% of all child Covid-19 cases resulted in death.
The AAP defines children as those 17 and younger.
The report’s count is likely underestimated and is incomplete because not all states report data in the same way.
Some 49 states, New York City, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam contributed data to the AAP report. A smaller subset of states report information about hospitalizations and deaths by age.