What the data says regarding children’s risk from COVID-19

While holding a press conference encouraging more parents to vaccinate their kids –– in light of the FDA’s decision to approve the Pfizer vaccine for kids aged 5 to 11 –– Gov. Tim Walz dismissed data showing that kids are generally not at high risk of getting sick from COVID-19.

Walz made the assertion claiming that about 300 kids were sick in the hospital due to COVID-19. Of course, this is not true as the data from the Minnesota Department of Health (link in the following tweet) shows.

According to MDH data, for the week ending November 4, there has been a total of 41,931 hospitalizations –– with 8,458 ICU hospitalizations. Out of that number, kids aged 0 to 14 have made up less than one thousand of total hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic.

Additionally, among kids aged 0 to 14, there have only been 3 deaths out of over 100,000 recorded positive cases. Generally, older individuals –– especially those over 65 –– seem to be at a much higher risk of death and hospitalization.

In fact, according to the data, only under 1 percent of all cases among kids aged 0 to 14 have resulted in hospitalizations. Kids generally have the lowest hospitalization rates and face a significantly lower risk of dying from COVID-19.

Age groupDeaths as a percent of total cases
0-40.0043%
4-90.0057%
10-140.0000%
15-190.0016%
20-240.0096%
25-290.0201%
30-340.0485%
35-390.0680%
40-440.0968%
45-490.2141%
50-540.3504%
55-590.5232%
60-641.0644%
65-692.0645%
70-743.9417%
75-796.7996%
80-8411.5887%
85-8912.8286%
90-9423.9318%
95-9930.3089%
100+30.7888%

Certainly, any number of kids –– or anybody –– dying from COVID-19 or any other disease is a tragedy that should be prevented. But it is also important that messaging reflects what the statistics do show.

And when it comes to COVID-19, data shows that kids face very minimal risk and should not be made to feel irrationally terrified of the pandemic. People –– especially parents –– need to be able to make well-informed decisions.