March 20, 2020

Hundreds of severe pediatric COVID-19 infections in Wuhan prior to the lockdown

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Clinical Characteristics and Health Care Setting

• Du et al use influenza and COVID-19 surveillance data from hospitals in Wuhan to estimate cumulative pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations prior to the Jan 23 lockdown. Their estimate of 1,105 cases far surpasses the 425 confirmed cases across all age groups, none of which were children under age 15. 
• This suggests there may be significantly more mild cases in children then known, and highlights the need for more robust surveillance to capture the severity and extent of COVID-19 cases across all ages.  

Du et al. (March 16, 2020). Hundreds of severe pediatric COVID-19 infections in Wuhan prior to the lockdown. Pre-print downloaded Mar 20 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.16.20037176