CDC: 90% of children in U.S. infected with COVID-19 at least once

Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Around 90% of children in the United States have survived being diagnosed with COVID-19 at least once, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

The CDC estimates seroprevalence of the virus -- meaning its presence in the population -- has touched 90.3% of children throughout the country, based on antibodies which indicate they have been infected at least once.

CDC estimates amount to more than 64.5 million pediatric cases.

Wyoming, South Dakota and North Dakota did not submit COVID-19 data to the CDC.

The highest rate of seroprevalence is in children between 5 and 11 years old, with more than 92% of that age group estimated to have been infected. A majority of states had a seroprevalence rate of more than 90%.

Data was provided by commercial laboratories which collect blood for purposes unrelated to COVID-19.

With flu season underway and respiratory syncytial virus having a particularly harmful season, coinfections are of concern to the CDC. Influenza and COVID-19 coinfections were present in 16% of pediatric hospitalizations and 6% of pediatric deaths during the current flu season.

"Compared with patients without coinfection, a higher proportion of those hospitalized with coinfection received invasive mechanical ventilation," the CDC said.

Coinfections with COVID-19 were present in seven of 44 influenza-related pediatric deaths throughout the 2021-2022 flu season.

According to vaccine data, less than 33% of vaccine-eligible children under 12 have completed the primary series of the COVID-19 vaccination. Less than two-thirds of children 12 to 17 years old are fully vaccinated. Less than 10% of children have an updated booster shot. Only about 14% of all people age 5 and older have received an updated booster.

There are more than 31,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations reported by the CDC. To date, more than 1.08 million people in the United States have died from COVID-19.