KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A new study on COVID-19 and children from the American Academy of Pediatrics shows a 40% increase in virus cases among children in the United States over the last two weeks of July.
More than 97,000 new cases of COVID-19 in children were reported across the country in the study.
That includes a major increase in Missouri. According to the most recent figures, the state has reported more than 7,000 total cases of COVID-19 in children aged 0-19.
"Recently, in Kansas and Missouri, it's been over 9%, here at Children's Mercy our rate for the month of July was 5.3% for children, so even though it's higher than it had been it's lower than what it is for the overall community, which is also expected because we just are seeing more disease in adults," said Dr. Angela Myers, Children's Mercy's infectious disease division director.
The cases often aren't as severe as in adults.
"By and large, children have mild symptoms with this infection. There is risk, certainly, under a year of age, those children are more likely to require hospitalization and children, a greater than a year of age, that is true for most respiratory viruses and children. And then children with chronic co-morbid conditions like diabetes or obesity also are higher risk similar to adults," Myers said.
With districts preparing for the back-to-school season and readying virtual plans, Dr. Myers said talking to children about the virus and the importance of masks and social distancing should be done in the same anticipatory way of talking about the importance of helmets on bikes and eating fruits and vegetables.
"If you approach it in the right way, you don't make it scary, you make it child friendly, then it's so much easier for a child to accept. Children are pretty adaptable and if they see their parents doing something, then they're much more likely to accept that same thing," she said.
There was one hopeful and exciting piece of news from 41 Action News' conversation with Dr. Myers.
"I'm really excited about the vaccine trial that's going to get underway here with Children's Mercy and KU in the upcoming weeks," she said. "We will be doing a phase three trial that is led by an investigator here at Children's Mercy and another investigator at KU on one of the vaccines, and I'm really excited about the early results from the phase two study. I think that we have the opportunity to do a really wonderful thing in Kansas City by contributing to new data and knowledge around COVID vaccines and hopefully, there will be a vaccine available after the first of the year."
