From asymptomatic children to a report from the states, here is today's round-up of news related to COVID-19 and children.

Asymptomatic Children

The theory that children are more likely than adults to be asymptomatic carriers of the novel coronavirus is not supported by a recent study. Researchers at Italy’s Fondazione Ca’ Granda Osperdale Maggiore Polyclinico in Milan tested 83 children and 131 adults admitted for noninfectious conditions and with no COVID-19 symptoms. Dr. Carlo Agostoni told Reuters Health that one child tested positive for the novel coronavirus compared to 12 adults. The study was reported in JAMA Pediatrics.

COVID, Kids and Co-Morbidities

An overwhelming majority of the children, teens and young adults under age 21 who died from COVID-19 had underlying medical conditions and are minorities, according to a new CDC report. The CDC looked at deaths from February 12th to July 21 of patients under age 21 and found that 75% had underlying medical conditions such as asthma, obesity, cardiac conditions and neurologic/developmental conditions. Most pediatric deaths were patients ages 10 to 20. Hispanic children accounted for 45% of the fatal cases, 29% were non-Hispanic Black, and 4% were non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native.

State’s Report on Children and COVID

Children account for 10% (549,000) of all COVID-19 cases in America, according to a State-Level Data Report released last week. Based on the states’ report, the American Academy of Pediatrics said that it appears severe illness due to COVID-19 is rare among children but urged states to continue providing detailed reports on testing, hospitalizations and mortality by age, race and ethnicity. Of note is that in the 2 weeks after schools reopened there have been 72,993 new child cases reported, a 15% increase in child cases. The report also found that children made up between 4% and 15% of total state tests and between 3.3% and 16.6% of those children tested positive. The good news is that 18 states reported zero child deaths. Overall, children were 0.3% of all COVID-19 deaths.

Positive Test Results

The parents of a Massachusetts student who tested positive for the coronavirus on September 9th continued sending the teen to school even after finding out about the positive test result, according to NPR. Now 30 students who came into close contact with the teen have been told to quarantine for two weeks. The first rumors about the positive case came on social media. Eventually a contact-tracing team notified the school.

Robert Calandra is an award-winning journalist, book author, and playwright. His work has appeared in national and regional magazines and newspapers.