African American children are at higher risk of COVID‐19 infection

Abstract

Infection by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the viral etiology of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), was first reported in Wuhan, China in late 2019. Peculiarly, the virus has not caused significant impact on pediatric populations, unlike other coronaviruses (1). Children comprise only 1.7% of COVID-19 positive cases in the United States (2). Furthermore, children are noted to have a milder disease course (3, 4). However, much is unknown about the age, gender and race risk factors of COVID-19 among children. There has been recent evidence suggestive of higher rates of COVID-19 and related fatality rates in African American adult communities around the United States(5). However, there is limited data, to our knowledge, whether any race or ethnicity group is at higher risk for COVID-19 infection in children.