Over half mln children infected with COVID-19 in U.S.: report

Children wearing masks ride bicycles on the National Mall in Washington D.C., the United States, May 18, 2020. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

Over a half million children in the United States have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to a new report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association. 

While children represented only 9.8 percent of all cases in states reporting cases by age, a total of 513,415 child COVID-19 cases have been reported, said the report updated on Tuesday. 

The overall rate is 680 cases per 100,000 children in the population. According to the report, 70,630 new child cases were reported from Aug. 20 to Sept. 3, a 16 percent increase in child cases over two weeks. 

Children made up between 4 and 14.3 percent of total state tests, and between 3 and 17.3 percent of children tested were tested positive, according to the report. 

Children were 0.7 to 3.7 percent of total reported hospitalizations, and 0 to 0.3 percent of all COVID-19 deaths, said the report. 

"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 and race/ethnicity so that the effects of COVID-19 on children's health can be documented and monitored," said the report.