American Academy of Pediatrics
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 (definition of “child” case is based on varying age ranges reported across states; see report Appendix for details and links to all data sources).
As of September 16, over 5.5 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic. Nearly 226,000 cases were added the past week, the third highest number of child cases in a week since the pandemic began. After declining in early summer, child cases have increased exponentially, with over 925,000 cases in the past 4 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 15.7% of total cumulated cases. For the week ending September 16, children were 25.7% 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 9/16/21)
Cumulative Number of Child COVID-19 Cases*
- 5,518,815 total child COVID-19 cases reported, and children represented 15.7% (5,518,815/35,077,099) of all cases
- Overall rate: 7,332 cases per 100,000 children in the population
Change in Child COVID-19 Cases*
- 225,978 child COVID-19 cases were reported the past week from 9/9/21-9/16/21 (5,292,837 to 5,518,815) and children represented 25.7% (225,978/878,977) of the weekly reported cases
- Over two weeks, 9/2/21-9/16/21, there was a 9% increase in the cumulated number of child COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic (469,350 cases added (5,049,465 to 5,518,815))
Testing (11 states reported)*
Among states reporting, children made up between 11.3%-21.8% of total cumulated state tests, and between 4.9%-17.9% of children tested were tested positive.
Hospitalizations (24 states and NYC reported)*
- Among states reporting, children ranged from 1.6%-4.2% of their total cumulated hospitalizations, and 0.1%-2.0% 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%-0.25% of all COVID-19 deaths, and 7 states reported zero child deaths
- In states reporting, 0.00%-0.03 of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in death
* Note: The numbers in this summary represent cumulative counts since states began reporting. In this summary and full report, the data are based on how public agencies collect, categorize and post information. All data reported by state/local health departments are preliminary and subject to change and reporting may change over time. Notably, in the summer of 2021, some states have revised cases counts previously reported, begun reporting less frequently, or dropped metrics previously reported. For example, due to several changes on their dashboards and the data currently available, AL, NE, and TX data in this report are not current (cumulative data through 7/29/21, 6/24/21, and 8/26/21 respectively). Readers should consider these factors. States may have additional information on their web sites.
For additional information on US child hospitalizations from the CDC, visit https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#new-hospital-admissions
For additional information on US child mortality from the CDC, visit https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#demographics
^ On 7/15/21, IA stopped updating child testing data; IA cumulative tests through 7/8/21.