November 5, 2020 – Illinois, like the rest of America, is seeing a spike in coronavirus cases among children. The American Academy of Pediatrics released a new report that showed 61,000 children nationwide tested positive for COVID-19 last week. As of October 29, there have been over 850,000 cases reported in children. Children represent more than 11% of all cases in America.
During the daily COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday, IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said children were the third-largest group in the number of cases in the latest statewide report. “They are involved in activities and group things as well,” Ezike said. “There are sports, there’s dance, there’s school, there’s trick-or-treating, there are birthday parties, so there is ample opportunity for our younger residents to get the infection as well.”
According to a CDC report from October, adolescents between ages 12 and 17 were twice as likely to test positive for COVID-19 than kids between 5 and 11 years of age. While cases of severe illness are seemingly rare among children, most times it is in infants younger than 1. The CDC says more severe cases of COVID-19 were most likely to be found in children with underlying health conditions such as chronic lung diseases, including asthma the most commonly reported condition.
The AAP said there is an urgent need for studies and data on how the virus may affect a child’s long-term health.
