The vast majority of children have contracted the Chinese coronavirus, a study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed.
The study, released Tuesday, found that that three-quarters of children 11 and under have already contracted the virus. The federal agency tested over 200,000 blood samples, looking to identify antibodies indicating previous infection.
The study found that an increase in overall infections occurred from December 2021 to February 2022, going from 33.5 percent to 57.7 percent. In that same time frame, the increase in children 0-11, specifically, went from 44.2 percent to 75.2 percent. For children 12-17, the figure jumped from 45.6 percent to 74.2 percent.
Additionally:
Seroprevalence increased from 36.5% (95% CI = 35.7–37.4) to 63.7% (95% CI = 62.5–64.8) among adults aged 18–49 years, 28.8% (95% CI = 27.9–29.8) to 49.8% (95% CI = 48.5–51.3) among those aged 50–64 years, and from 19.1% (95% CI = 18.4–19.8) to 33.2% (95% CI = 32.2–34.3) among those aged ≥65 years.
“As of February 2022, approximately 75% of children and adolescents had serologic evidence of previous infection with SARS-CoV-2, with approximately one third becoming newly seropositive since December 2021,” the CDC study found, identifying the greatest increases occurring from September 2021 to February 2022.
The study noted that the findings “might underestimate the cumulative number of SARS-CoV-2 infections because infections after vaccination might result in lower anti-N titers, and anti-N seroprevalence cannot account for reinfections.”
It comes as public health officials continue to push parents to vaccinate their children, with some cities, such as New York City, previously barring unvaccinated children from restaurants.
“This is something that is going to keep kids safe and families safe. Go get your child vaccinated,” former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said at the time, issuing an ultimatum to parents.
“As long as they’ve gotten that first dose by December 14, they can continue to participate [in] indoor dining, entertainment, all these great things,” he added.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), roughly 28 percent of U.S. children have completed a two-dose vaccination series, and 58 percent of 12-17 year old are considered fully vaccinated.
However, the AAP also found that among states reporting — 46 states, as well as New York City, Puerto Rico, and Guam — children account for between 0.00 percent and 0.27 percent of all coronavirus deaths.
“In states reporting, 0.00%–0.02% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in death,” the AAP found.
Additionally, among 25 states reporting, as well as New York City, 0.1 percent – 1.5 percent of all child coronavirus cases resulted in hospitalization, further emphasizing the extremely low risk the virus poses to children.
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