Cases of Covid19 in Children are Rapidly Increasing

The increasing cases of coronavirus in the United States also include children, according to data collected from state health departments by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. Around 61,000 new cases of the virus were found in children only in the last week of October, which according to AAP is the largest, than in any other week during the pandemic.

From the start of the pandemic till the 29^th of October more than 853,000 cases of covid19 in children have been reported and around 200,000 of them were reported in the month of October alone, according to AAP. President of AAP Dr. Sally Goza said that these increasing numbers of cases in children are reminding us of the severity of impact that the coronavirus pandemic has on everyone including the children.

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Goza further added that the coronavirus is very contagious and as the spikes are being seen in many communities so the children are also likely to get infected. The AAP believes these numbers of cases of covid19 in children are undercounted because the symptoms of coronavirus in children are often very mild and many children remain untested because their symptoms often look similar to that of flu and the common cold.

The symptoms of covid19 that usually occur in children include a dry cough, headaches, body aches, runny nose, sneezing, fever of 38 degrees centigrade or 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, difficulty in breathing, digestive issues, fatigue, and sore throat. Symptoms that are not common may include ‘Covid Toes’, in which one or more toes of the children may swell and turn into purplish, pink, or red color, conjunctivitis also known as pink eye, and a sudden loss of smell and taste.

However, children are less likely than adults to get a cough, shortness of breath, or fever according to early researches. One study found that around 71-80 people in 100 showed symptoms of cough and fever as compared to around 54-56 children in 100, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Moreover, shortness of breath was found in every 43 of 100 adults as compared to 13 in 100 children. Other symptoms like headache, fatigue, sore throat, muscle pain, and diarrhea were also less occurrent in children.

As of now severe illness due to covid19 is reported very rarely in children but when it was reported the child was of less than a year. Moreover, when children needed to be admitted to the hospitals around 33% of them required intensive care units to be treated with which is the same number as found in adults, the CDC found.

Teenagers were twice as likely to get infected with coronavirus than children aged between 5 and 11, according to a report by the CDC. The CDC said that the virus impacted more severely on kids who had underlying health conditions such as asthma (55%) which was the most commonly reported, disability in children (9%), diabetes (6%), cardiovascular disease (5%), severe obesity (4%), immune disorders (7%), and psychological conditions (6%).