Kids Can Get Coronavirus, Nearly 100K More Children Test Positive For COVID-19

Though children are generally considered low-risk, many youths have been diagnosed with COVID-19. In the last two weeks of July, nearly 100,000 more children received positive test results.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has released a new report that states 97,078 cases of coronavirus were found in the last two weeks of July alone, according to CBS. That brings the total of kids who tested positive to over 338,000. More than 25 youths died in July.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new statistics that indicate Black and Hispanic children are more likely to be hospitalized with COVID symptoms. Black youths are five times as likely to be hospitalized as white kids, and Hispanic children are eight times as likely. Both Black and Hispanic children were more likely to have underlying conditions than their white counterparts.

Underlying conditions for children with COVID-19 often include obesity, asthma and neurological conditions. For children under 2 years old, premature birth was often an underlying condition.

Rumors have circulated that younger people don’t get COVID-19, but that has been proven false. President Trump inaccurately claimed that children are “almost immune” to the virus.

“If you look at children, children are almost — and I would almost say definitely — but almost immune from this disease," Trump claimed on Fox News on Wednesday.

When the clip was posted to his social media, both Facebook and Twitter removed the video due to misinformation.

As some schools begin to reopen, experts advise that parents should give their kids mask training to prepare them for having their faces covered all day.