The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children′s Hospital Association reported a decrease of 23% in the new COVID-19 cases in children, with the current weekly tally being the lowest since July, 2021. COVID-related hospitalizations also decreased in the country. 

During the week of March 11-17, a little less than 32,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported among children, with a drop of 23% from the week before. Meanwhile, two studies from the CDC provide a perspective on hospitalizations among children.

In one of the reports based on the CDC′s COVID-19–Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET), covering 99 counties across 14 states, it was seen that there was a fivefold increase in hospitalization rates for children aged 4 years and below during the Omicron surge compared to the Delta surge. Mostly, infants under 6 months of age were the worst affected.

In another study reported as a preprint in medRxiv, child hospitalizations during the pandemic from October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021, were compared with three influenza seasons (2017-2018 through 2019-2020). It was observed that the pre-Omicron hospitalization rate for those aged below 18 years was 48.2 per 100,000 children, which was the highest in comparison with any of the three flu seasons. (Medscape Medical News, March 22, 2022)