Report finds more than 70,000 new US coronavirus cases in children since early August

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FILE - A health worker takes a nasal swab sample at a COVID-19 testing site at St. John's Well Child and Family Center, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, July 24, 2020, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES - Recent data from a joint report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association found more than 74,000 new coronavirus cases in children since early August.

The report found that between Aug. 6 and Aug. 20, the total number of cases of COVID-19 in children in the U.S. increased by 21%.

The data was compiled by the health department websites of 49 states, and children represented more than 9% of all cases. More than 442,000 children have tested positive for the coronavirus since the onset of the pandemic, according to the report.

“At this time, it appears that severe illness due to COVID-19 is rare among children,” authors of the report said. “However, states should continue to provide detailed reports on COVID-19 cases, testing, hospitalizations, and mortality by age so that the effects of COVID-19 on children’s health can be documented and monitored.”

Hundreds of students were forced to quarantine earlier this month as school districts nationwide attempted to reopen despite surges in the disease in several states.

Children, families participate in DIY experiment to help determine role kids play in spreading COVID-19

According to the Associated Press, present evidence suggests that children are less likely to become infected with the novel coronavirus than adults.

And in July, the U.S. saw a jump in coronavirus cases in children by 40%, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, who also reported that 86 children died from the disease in the U.S.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report covering illnesses mid-February to mid-July, in which they found that nearly 600 children have been hospitalized in the United States with a rare inflammatory syndrome associated with the novel coronavirus during the pandemic.

The agency found that as of July 29, a total of 570 child patients were diagnosed with MIS-C, according to state health departments across the country. The CDC also found that all MIS-C patients had tested positive for the coronavirus, and 10 died.

Around the world, children have been severely impacted by the coronavirus, directly or indirectly.

Restrictions put into place to slow the spread of the virus are pushing already hungry communities over the edge, cutting off meager farms from markets and isolating villages from food and medical aid.

Virus-linked hunger is leading to the deaths of 10,000 more children a month globally over the first year of the pandemic, according to an urgent call to action from the United Nations shared with The Associated Press ahead of its publication in the Lancet medical journal.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.