Report: COVID-19 cases in children have significantly risen this month

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, COVID-19 cases in kids have gone up 25% in the past two weeks. Just last week, there were 182,000 new cases nationwide, the highest weekly number since the pandemic began.

News 12 Staff

Dec 22, 2020, 10:17 PM

Updated 1,381 days ago

Share:

A dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases in children has been a cause for alarm over the last two weeks.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, COVID-19 cases in kids have gone up 25% in the past two weeks. Just last week, there were 182,000 new cases nationwide, the highest weekly number since the pandemic began.
Doctors say they're seeing this uptick in Westchester, too.
The good news is that kids getting severely ill or dying from COVID-19 is still rare. But the worry is less about children getting sick and more about who they could be infecting.
"Because they tend to be asymptomatic, it could be very difficult to know if your child is spreading it to a grandparent or ill relative who can't handle this disease," says Dr. Sara Kenamore, of WestMed Medical Group.
Kenamore says if your child has any symptoms of COVID-19 -- headache, cough, runny nose, vomiting, diarrhea, rash -- they should get tested.
Kenamore adds that spread is likely happening at playdates or organized sports, and less so in schools.