Fewer than 500 children have died of COVID-19 since figures were first recorded May 2020, the CDC said, a figure exponentially outnumbered by children killed in drownings, gun-violence incidents, and other fatal injuries.
A total of 498 children had been killed by COVID up to the week ending September 23, which are the most recent CDC figures available. Most children in the US die as a result of various accidents, including car crashes, drowning, and from being shot, the CDC says.
A total of 3,343 children 19 and under lost their lives in traffic accidents in 2019, while there is an estimate of almost 4,000 children dying of fatal accidental drownings every year.
Poisoning accidents kill 730 children every year in the country. Seventy-nine children 19 and under died due to bike-related accidents.
The agency reports that more than 12,000 children die every year due to injuries including drownings, falls, burns, and road traffic injuries. That equates to around 33 children a day.
Childhood COVID deaths, pictured in red, have totaled 498 since May 2020. The other causes of childhood death in this chart are figures for a single year
Perhaps one of the causes of deaths in children that has spiked the most over the last decade is gun violence. According to the Defense Fund's 2021 report, an average of 3,285 children and teenagers are killed every year by guns.
Although not factored in to the COVID death statistics, suicides among children have also increased since the pandemic hit US shores.
In 2019, 534 children committed suicide, a number that increased alarmingly during lockdown. According to a May 2020 report from the CDC, emergency rooms across the country experienced a rise of almost 50 percent in suspected suicide attempts in teenage girls aged 12 to 17, amid fears isolation was destroying youngsters' mental health.
According to health officials, the relatively low COVID-19 mortality rate in children can be explained by the fact that young and healthy people tend to experience less threatening symptoms than adults with underlying conditions.
Other measures like good ventilation, mask use, and social distancing in schools have been proved to further curb the spread of COVID-19, subsequently decreasing potential deaths.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom was recently accused of implementing a 'paternalistic,' and overreaching school vaccine mandate
In California, 35 children have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic started in 2020. California Gov. Gavin Newsom talks with 7th grade students at James Denman Middle School on October 1
The figures came amid pushes for vaccine mandates in schools, with California ordering all schoolchildren aged 12 and up to take the shot if they wish to attend in-person classes.
It has become the first state to do so.
Although the CDC has given approval to the Pfizer vaccine for children 12 and up, many parents are still holding off from vaccinating their kids.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom was recently accused of implementing a 'paternalistic,' and overreaching school vaccine mandate, as just 35 children are said to have died of COVID-19 in his state since the pandemic started.
Newsom announced on Friday that all school children in the state were going to be required to get the vaccine if they intended to attend classes in person, with no testing alternative. California is the first state to do so.
'We don't want to see even a single child die, but when you look at the numbers of deaths of children that have occurred as a result of other causes, you have many causes such as motor vehicle accidents, accidental injuries from bicycle accidents, drownings, poisonings, suicides, drug overdoses, homicides by gunshots- all exceeding this by an order of magnitude or greater,' Dr Houman Hemmati told FOX.
Parents had an array of reactions to Newsom's order. While some supported the measure and believed it would help avoid constant closings and switching to remote learning, others contended that it would leave parents who did not want to vaccinate their kids with no autonomy.
Newsom announced on Friday that all school children in the state were going to be required to get the vaccine if they intended to attend classes in person, with no testing alternative
Some parents contended that it would leave parents who did not want to vaccinate their kids with no autonomy
According to the California Department of Public Health, 55percent of teenagers ages 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated in the state.
Most parents support mask mandates in schools but don't believe children should be required to get COVID-19 shots.
COVID shots have been linked to rare but potentially serious cases of heart inflammation, with teenage boys and young men particularly at risk.
A survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF),
