(Photo: National Cancer Institute/Unsplash)
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, the American Academy of Pediatrics announced that more than 1 million children in the United States have been diagnosed with coronavirus.
The AAP stated that as of Nov. 12, 1,039,464 children have tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic, according to an AAP press release.
“As a pediatrician who has practiced medicine for over three decades, I find this number staggering and tragic. We haven’t seen a virus flash through our communities in this way since before we had vaccines for measles and polio,” Dr. Sally Goza, president of the AAP, said in a statement, according to Yahoo.
During the week of Nov. 9, there were 111,946 new cases of COVID-19 from children. The Academy said the number was “substantially larger than any previous week in the pandemic.” Child cases are sometimes underreported because children often have mild cases of the virus and may not be tested as often as adults, according to AAP.
In response to the rise of child COVID-19 cases, the Academy is calling on officials to enact a new national strategy to reduce the spread, including mask-wearing mandates and physical distancing.
“While we wait for a vaccine to be tested and licensed to protect children from the virus that causes COVID-19, we must do more now to protect everyone in our communities,” Goza said, according to Yahoo. “This is even more important as we approach winter, when people will naturally spend more time indoors, where it is easier for the virus to be transmitted.”