CDC releases first US data on COVID-19 cases in children

Enlarge / NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 24: A child with a pacifier looks out a window as the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States on March 24, 2020 in New York City. The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11th. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images) (credit: Getty | Cindy Ord)

In all of the grim statistics of COVID-19's devastation, one seemingly bright spot has been that children seem to be largely unaffected. They consistently make up small percentages of confirmed cases and nearly all have a mild form of the disease. But as more data accumulates, we're getting a clearer picture of what COVID-19 looks like in children-and when its youngest victims are not spared from the worst.

On Monday, April 6, public health researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the first data set on pediatric COVID-19 cases in the United States. The report looked at more than 2,500 cases in infants, children, and adolescents under age 18, collectively referred to as "children" in the study. The data was published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The data largely echoes that of pediatric cases seen in China and elsewhere. Children made up a sliver of COVID-19 cases overall and their symptoms appeared largely mild.

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