State-level reports are the best publicly available and timely data on child COVID-19 cases in the United States. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association are collaborating to collect and share all publicly available data from states on child COVID-19 cases.
As of September 9, nearly 5.3 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic. Over 243,000 cases were added the past week, the second highest number of child cases in a week since the pandemic began. After declining in early summer, child cases have increased exponentially, with nearly 500,000 cases in the past 2 weeks.
The age distribution of reported COVID-19 cases was provided on the health department websites of 49 states, New York City, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. Since the pandemic began, children represented 15.5% of total cumulated cases. For the week ending September 9, children were 28.9% of reported weekly COVID-19 cases (children, under age 18, make up 22.2% of the US population).
A smaller subset of states reported on hospitalizations and mortality by age; the available data indicate that COVID-19-associated hospitalization and death is uncommon in children.
At this time, it appears that severe illness due to COVID-19 is uncommon 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.
Summary of Findings (data available as of 9/9/21) :
Cumulative Number of Child COVID-19 Cases-
- 5,292,837 total child COVID-19 cases reported, and children represented 15.5% (5,292,837/34,198,122) of all cases
- Overall rate: 7,032 cases per 100,000 children in the population
Change in Child COVID-19 Cases-
- 243,373 child COVID-19 cases were reported the past week from 9/2/21-9/9/21 (5,049,465 to 5,292,837) and children represented 28.9% (243,373/840,838) of the weekly reported cases
- Over two weeks, 8/26/21-9/9/21, there was a 10% increase in the cumulated number of child COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic (495,154 cases added (4,797,683 to 5,292,837)
Testing (11 states reported)-
- Among states reporting, children made up between 11.1%-21.6% of total cumulated state tests, and between 4.9%-17.8% of children tested were positive
Hospitalizations (24 states and NYC reported)-
- Among states reporting, children ranged from 1.6%-4.0% of their total cumulated hospitalizations, and 0.1%-1.9% of all their child COVID-19 cases resulted in hospitalization
Mortality (45 states, NYC, PR and GU reported)-
- Among states reporting, children were 0.00%-0.27% of all COVID-19 deaths, and 7 states reported zero child deaths
