US Reports Three Child Deaths From Coronavirus

US reports three child deaths from coronavirus

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released a report on the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in children in the US for the period from February 12 to April 2, 2019.

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A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that of the 149,082 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases, children and adolescents under the age of 18 accounted for only 1.7%, or 2,572 people. … Three of them died after being hospitalized, the cause of death was tentatively named after the consequences of COVID-19.

The CDC emphasizes that it has detailed data on only a few patients. So there are descriptions of symptoms for only 10% of the total number of infected people, information on concomitant and chronic diseases for 13%, and hospitalization for 33%. Nevertheless, even based on such incomplete information, the picture of the course of COVID-19 in children and adolescents in the United States is somewhat different from the information provided by Chinese scientists.

In 73% of children and adolescents, the main symptoms of coronavirus infection were observed: high fever, dry cough, shortness of breath. This is 20% less than among patients aged 18 to 64 over the same time period. Hospitalization was required for almost 6% of children and adolescents. At the same time, the maximum number of cases occurred in infants under one year old, and in the age groups 10-14 and 15-17 years old. Among adults under 64 years old, about 10% are usually hospitalized.

The new data reinforces the findings of Chinese experts that the main symptoms of COVID-19 are significantly less common in children than in adults. In addition, the younger generation really tolerates the disease much easier, but cases of hospitalization and even transfer to the intensive care unit occur in this age group.

How children handle COVID-2019

Research data

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The presence of a mild and asymptomatic course of the disease in 27% of children and adolescents raises serious concerns among epidemiologists. They call for extending social distancing measures to the full and to persons under 18 years of age, as they themselves, without knowing it, can play an important role in the spread of infection.

The median age of the young patients was 11 years. About a third - 813 people - were between 15 and 17 years old. The second largest age group of infected people is children from 10 to 14 years old. Infants under one year old - 291. Of all 2,490 cases, 57% are boys, 43% are girls. The gender disparity here is slightly higher than in the population as a whole, since between the ages of 18 and 64, only 53% of men are infected.

The CDC found that only 9% of patients under the age of 18 were infected with COVID-19 while traveling, all the rest caught the infection in families or in their place of residence.