Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infections in Children: Multicenter Surveillance, United States, January-March 2020

J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2020 Nov 10;9(5):609-612. doi: 10.1093/jpids/piaa075.

Abstract

Previous reports of coronavirus disease 2019 among children in the United States have been based on health jurisdiction reporting. We performed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing on children enrolled in active, prospective, multicenter surveillance during January-March 2020. Among 3187 children, only 4 (0.1%) SARS-CoV-2-positive cases were identified March 20-31 despite evidence of rising community circulation.

Keywords: COVID-19; acute respiratory illness; pediatrics; public health surveillance.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification*
  • COVID-19
  • COVID-19 Testing
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Clinical Laboratory Techniques / methods
  • Clinical Laboratory Techniques / statistics & numerical data
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis
  • Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Male
  • Pandemics
  • Pneumonia, Viral / diagnosis
  • Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology*
  • Public Health Surveillance*
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • United States / epidemiology