Abstract
Background Little is known regarding the full spectrum of illness among children with SARS-CoV-2 infection across ambulatory and inpatient settings. Methods Active surveillance was performed for SARS-CoV-2 by polymerase chain reaction among asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals in a quaternary care academic hospital laboratory in Tennessee from March 12-July 17, 2020. For symptomatic patients ≤18 years of age, we performed phone follow-up and medical record review to obtain sociodemographic and clinical data on days 2, 7, and 30 after diagnosis and on day 30 for asymptomatic patients ≤18 years. Daily and 7-day average test positivity frequencies were calculated for children and adults beginning April 26, 2020. Results SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 531/10327 (5.1%) specimens from patients ≤18 years, including 46/5752 (0.8%) asymptomatic and 485/4575 (10.6%) specimens from 459 unique symptomatic children. Cough (51%), fever (42%), and headache (41%) were the most common symptoms associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. SARS-CoV-2-related hospitalization was uncommon (18/459 children; 4%); no children with SARS-CoV-2 infection during the study period required intensive care unit admission. Symptom resolution occurred by follow-up day 2 in 192/459 (42%), by day 7 in 332/459 (72%), and by day 30 in 373/396 (94%). The number of cases and percent positivity rose in late June and July in all ages. Conclusions In an integrated healthcare network, most pediatric SARS-CoV-2 infections were mild, brief, and rarely required hospital admission, despite increasing cases as community response measures were relaxed.
Full Text Availability
The license terms selected by the author(s) for this preprint version do not permit archiving in PMC. The full text is available from the preprint server.