Coronavirus In PA Children: New Data On Cases, Deaths Released

PENNSYLVANIA — The American Academy of Pediatrics has released a report that explores state-level data on coronavirus cases in children.

In Pennsylvania, children make up 7 percent of Pennsylvania's total coronavirus cases, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is collaborating with the Children’s Hospital Association to collect the COVID-19 case data.

And while state officials say there has been "at least one" pediatric death in Pennsylvania, "the actual counts are redacted because there have been fewer than five deaths among the age groups," said Nate Wardle of the Pennsylvania Department of Health. See chart below.

As of July 30, there were 7,740 children ages 0 to 18 who have tested positive for the coronavirus in Pennsylvania. There are 2,801,187 children ages 0 to 18 in Pennsylvania. That means out of each 100,000 children, there have been 276 cases, the AAP explains in its report.

According to data from the state, of the total coronavirus cases across Pennsylvania, 1 percent are in children ages 0 to 4; 1 percent of cases are in children ages 5-12; and nearly 4 percent are in children ages 13 to 18.

While not all states reported to the AAP its data on hospitalizations and mortality by age, the available data indicates that COVID-19-associated hospitalization and death is uncommon in children.

"At this time, it appears that severe illness due to COVID-19 is rare among children. However, states should continue to provide detailed reports on COVID-19 cases, testing, hospitalizations, and mortality by age so that the effects of COVID-19 on children’s health can continue to be documented and monitored," the report summary said.

In the United States, there have been 338,982 total child COVID-19 cases reported. That's 8.8 percent of all cases. The overall rate nationwide was 447 pediatric cases per 100,000 children.

Nationally, cases have picked up in the last two weeks of July. From July 16-30, there were 97,078 new child cases reported. That represents a 40 percent increase in child cases.

Among the that reported fatalities to the AAP, 20 states had no child coronavirus deaths. In states reporting, 0 to 0.3 percent of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in death. You can view the full report here.

According to Pennsylvania's most recent data on deaths related to coronavirus, the majority of deaths occurred in people aged 60 and older.

There have been 7,317 total deaths related to COVID-19 in Pennsylvania. Of those, more than half occurred in people ages 75 or older.

People under the age of 40 make up just 31 of the state's total deaths.

Here is the most recent breakdown of coronavirus deaths by age group throughout the pandemic:

*As per state reporting policy, data is redacted if there fewer than five cases