ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The positivity rate of COVID-19 cases for children is 9.2%, according to new numbers from the Florida Department of Health, compared to the 5.3% positivity rate overall.
Read: What a second wave of COVID-19 cases could look like in Florida
However, doctors say children are able to fight off the coronavirus much better than adults.
“The great majority of them have very mild symptoms,” Dr. Jenna Wheeler, a pediatric critical care physician at Orlando Health at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children said. “We have been very fortunate here that, the cases we have seen, the children have done very well with quick recoveries.”
In Florida, 5% are among children, but it was the overall positivity rate, not the case count, that was striking.
“It’s not surprising that a high proportion of kids are going to test positive because, by and large, we are not testing a lot of kids,” Dr. Kenneth Alexander, chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Nemours Children’s Hospital said.
In Central Florida, Orange County had the most cases in children, followed by Volusia County then Osceola County.
“With pediatric patients, I think there’s less getting tested for the sake of information,” Dr. Wheeler said.
Doctors say children are only getting tested when they show symptoms, are very ill or are about to undergo a medical procedure, whereas adults have been getting tested before going back to work or when they have a runny nose.
“Every time your kid sniffles do you need to come running to the ER because it might be Covid19? No," Dr. Alexander said.
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