COVID-19 cases among American children are continuing to drop after reaching record-high levels earlier this month.
More than 206,000 kids and teenagers in the U.S. tested positive for Covid last week, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
The figure represents an eight percent drop from the roughly 225,000 minors who contracted the virus the week prior.
This brings the total of coronavirus cases among under-18s to more than 5.7 million since the start of the pandemic.
Children also accounted for 26.7 percent of all infections recorded in the U.S. last week after making up 25.7 percent of cases the previous week.
However, most pediatric cases are not severe and virus-related fatalities among children are rare with pediatric deaths making up less than 0.1 percent of all COVID-19 deaths.
Because of kids’ low risk of severe disease and death, parents and doctors are split 50/50 on whether or not to vaccinate kids.
More than 206,000 COVID-19 cases were recorded among children and teens last week, a 8.4% decline from the 225,000 cases recorded the week before (above)
Under-18s accounted for 26.7% of all U.S. cases recorded last week with a total of 5.7 million since the pandemic began. Pictured: Raizah Touch gives her son Skyzell Touch, 6, a test for COVID-19 at Northridge Middle School in Northridge, California, August 2021
According to the AAP report, 206,864 child COVID-19 cases were reported between September 16 and September 23.
This is an 8.4 percent decrease from the 225,978 cases that were recorded from September 9 to September 16.
Currently, there are 14 states that report 18 percent or more of their cumulative cases are among children: Vermont, Alaska, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Maine, New Mexico, Minnesota, Kentucky, Washington, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Connecticut and Arizona.
Vermont has the most with more than 22 percent of all the state’s cases among its youngest residents.
Meanwhile, just one state – Florida- reported fewer than 12 percent of its cases are among kids.
Children account for at least 18% of all COVID-19 cases recorded in 14 states with Vermont leading at 22%
Additionally, over the last two weeks, nine states have seen a more than 10 percent increase in child cases: Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia and Wyoming
When it come to regions across the country, the South has the most child cases with around 90,000 reported.
Meanwhile, the Northeast had the fewest number of cases with fewer than 30,000 weekly cases.
Children never made up more than 0.27 percent of deaths in a state and seven states states reported zero child deaths.
In total, 498 children have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began, about 206 of which occurred after the Delta variant started rapidly spreading.
‘At this time, it appears that severe illness due to COVID-19 is uncommon among children,’ the authors wrote.
‘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.’
American parents are split 50/50 on whether or not they will immunize their children.
The South has the most weekly child Covid cases with 90,000 (green) reported while the Northeast had the fewest with about 30,000 (blue)
Some doctors have also suggested that kids do not needed to get vaccinated due to their low risk of severe disease and death.
In April 2021 poll, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, parents were asked if they would get their child immunized once a COVID-19 vaccine is authorized and available for their child’s age group.
Three in 10 parents – 29 percent – of children under 18 said they would get their child vaccinated ‘right away’ while 15 percent said they only plan to vaccinate their children if the school requires it and 19 percent said their child will definitely not be getting vaccinated.
A July 2021 survey, conducted by CS Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health at Michigan Medicine last month, found that 39 percent of parents said their children already gotten a coronavirus shot.
However, 40 percent of parents also said it was ‘unlikely’ that their children would be getting vaccinated.