A young man plays skateboard in Portland, the United States, Sept. 27, 2020. The COVID-19 infection rate among adolescents aged between 12 and 17 is "approximately double" that of younger children, according to a new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Photo by Alan Chin/Xinhua)
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 infection rate among adolescents aged between 12 and 17 is "approximately double" that of younger children, according to a new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The report published on Monday analyzed 277,285 confirmed COVID-19 cases in school-aged children in the United States between March and mid-September. Researchers found the average weekly incidence of COVID-19 in adolescents to be roughly 37 cases per 100,000 children.
This is nearly double the rate in younger kids between the ages of five and 11, which reported an incidence of 19 cases per 100,000 children.
Underlying conditions were more common among school-aged children with severe outcomes related to COVID-19, said the report.
Among school-aged children with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, 58 percent reported at least one symptom, 5 percent reported no symptoms, and information on symptoms was missing or unknown for 37 percent, according to the report.
The CDC found a total of 3,240 school-aged children with COVID-19 were hospitalized, including 404 who required ICU admission. Fifty-one school-aged children died of COVID-19.
"It is important for schools and communities to monitor multiple indicators of COVID-19 among school-aged children and layer prevention strategies to reduce COVID-19 disease risk for students, teachers, school staff, and families," said the report. Enditem
