Over 13 mln US children infected with COVID-19

LOS ANGELES - Over 13 million children in the United States have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to the latest report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association.

Over 62,000 additional child COVID-19 cases were reported in the week ending May 5, an increase of about 69 percent from two weeks ago, according to the report published late Monday.

This marks the fourth consecutive weekly increase in reported child cases in the United States.

Nearly 186,000 child COVID-19 cases have been added in the past 4 weeks. Nearly 5.2 million child cases have been added in 2022, 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.