COVID-19 is a leading cause of death in children and young people in the United States - EurekAlert

A new study led by researchers at the University of Oxford’s Department of Computer Science investigated this using data from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention databases.

According to the researchers, these results suggest that, with variants of COVID-19 continuing to circulate, public health measures such as vaccinations, staying home when sick, and ventilation still have an important role to play in limiting transmission of the virus and mitigating severe disease in children and young people.

Assistant Professor Robbie M. Parks of Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, a co-author of the study, said: ‘If you look at infectious diseases in children in the US historically, in the period before vaccines became available, hepatitis A, rotavirus, rubella, and measles were all major causes of death.

We need mitigations (e.g., ventilation, air cleaning) to protect children from infection, alongside accessible vaccination to reduce the risk from severe disease.’

The study ‘Assessment of COVID-19 as the underlying cause of death among children and young people aged 0 to 19 years in the US’ will be published in JAMA NetworkOpen at 16:00 GMT / 11:00 ET on 30 January 2023.

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