U.S. child COVID-19 cases surge along with the potential new wave
A girl is being tested for COVID-19 by her mother at a drive-through testing site in Whittier, California, U.S., January 25, 2022. /CFP
COVID-19 cases among children spiked for six consecutive weeks, according to data collected by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association.
More than 107,000 child COVID-19 cases were reported for the week ending May 19, a 72 percent increase from two weeks ago. Nearly 13.3 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, representing 19 percent of the total cases and make up for nearly one quarter (22 percent) of the U.S. population.
This may be an underreported number considering some states report less frequently and dropped metrics that they previously used since June, 2021.
AAP is calling for more attention to age-specific data in order to assess the severity of illness related to new variants as well as potential longer-term effects.
"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," AAP's report said.
A fickle COVID-19 summer
U.S. is expecting another COVID-19 wave driven by the more infectious Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that the new subvariant made up about 58 percent of all new US cases for the week ending May 21.
As the country's Memorial Day holiday weekend approaches, its seven-day average now exceeds the historical record of 100,000 new COVID-19 cases in February, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continued to rise in the country as the death toll from COVID-19 has .
The country is averaging 3,000 new COVID-19 hospitalizations each day, up 24.2 percent from a week before, CDC data showed.
Some infectious disease experts said the virus' unpredictable nature could lead to a fickle COVID-19 summer.
Summer surges may hopefully be much less severe this year, because many more people now carry some form of vaccine- or infection-induced immunity, said Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Still, it is hard to project exactly what will happen, Barouch said.
Health experts urged the public to wear masks on public transportation and indoor public spaces, even though the country no longer has a federal mask mandate.
