Children represented 25.7% of the weekly reported cases.

"After declining in early summer, child cases have increased exponentially, with over 925,000 cases in the past 4 weeks," the AAP said. In total, roughly 5.5 million US children have been infected with COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

Though severe illness is very rare, the AAP warned, "There is an urgent need to collect more data on longer-term impacts of the pandemic on children, including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects."