A total of 31,991 child Covid-19 cases were reported the past week ending March 17….reports Asian Lite News
Nearly 270,000 child Covid-19 cases have been reported in the US in the past one month, according to the report pby the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association.
About 12.8 million children have tested positive for Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic in the country more than two years ago, reports Xinhua news agency.
Children represented 19 per cent of all confirmed cases, according to the report.
A total of 31,991 child Covid-19 cases were reported the past week ending March 17.
Nearly 270,000 child cases have been added in the past four weeks.
Since the first week of September 2021, there have been over 7.7 million additional child cases, according to the report.
There is an urgent need to collect more age-specific data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants as well as potential longer-term effects, said the AAP.
“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,” said the AAP.
BA.2 subvariant gaining ground
The omicron subvariant BA.2 is continuing to gain ground in the U.S., according to Covid-19 tests sequenced over the last two weeks.
Helix, a San Diego-based genomics firm, has been watching the BA.2 variant since it first popped up in the U.S. in early January. Although it was initially slow to take hold, Helix now estimates that 50% to 70% of all Covid cases nationwide are BA.2.
Will Lee, Helix’s chief science officer, said this type of surveillance is essential and can help arm the U.S. health care system against future variants.
Data from the U.K. – where BA.2 has already caused cases to spike – show the country’s rise in infections began around the same time that BA.2 surpassed the 50% mark of overall cases. So far, the variant appears to be no more severe than the initial omicron strain, but there’s concern about its ability to reinfect people and its links to long Covid.
Cases are still dropping overall in the U.S., but some health experts are worried that decline won’t last for long. Already, cases are beginning to climb in New York City, where BA.2 accounts for a larger share of cases than in other parts of the country, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.