Nearly 72,000 kids tested positive in US last week
Nearly 72,000 children in the U.S. tested positive for COVID-19 last week, a massive jump from the approximately 39,000 cases among kids one week earlier, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
![PHOTO: People line up at a COVID-19 pop-up testing site in New York, Aug. 2, 2021.](https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/testing-van-zm-ps-210804_1628082833362_hpMain.jpg)
Children represented 19% of all COVID-19 cases for the week ending July 29.
Severe illness due to COVID-19 remains "uncommon" among children, the two organizations wrote in the report. According to the nearly two dozen states that reported pediatric hospitalizations, 0.1% to 1.9% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in hospitalization.
However, the two organizations warned that there is an urgent need to collect more data on long-term impacts of the pandemic on children, "including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects."
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos