The journal Pediatrics published a pre-publication version of the study, which means it has undergone peer review and been accepted for publication but is not the final version of record.
Researchers analyzed 2,143 cases of children younger than 18 years with COVID-19 reported to the Chinese CDC, from Jan. 16 to Feb. 8.
Of the 2,143 cases, 1.412 were suspected COVID-19 cases and 731 were laboratory-confirmed cases.
Researchers found that:
• 4.4 percent of pediatric patients were asymptomatic
• 50.9 percent had a mild case of the disease
• 38.8 percent had a moderate case of the disease
The proportion of severe and critical cases was higher among infants and toddlers than older children. A little over 10 percent of infants younger than 1 year, and 7.3 percent of kids between 1 and 5 years had severe or critical cases of COVID-19. But the proportion of severe and critical cases was less than 5 percent for children in the 6-10, 11-15 and 16-18 age groups.
Of all the cases analyzed, only one child died.
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