A retrospective view of pediatric cases infected with SARS-CoV-2 of a middle-sized city in mainland China

Kang, Yanjun; You, Zhong; Wang, Kang; Dong, Zijuan; Zhang, Jiajia; Qiu, Yuanwang; Ge, Guizhi

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 had resulted in a global pandemic. A comprehensive analysis of pediatric COVID-19 cases is essential to decipher the natural features of children under the risk of this disease. In the epidemic period, all the children infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Wuxi, a city with a stable medical system during the COVID-19 outbreak in China, were enrolled for comprehensive data documenting their clinical, prognosis, follow-up, treatment and various tests results. Combing their family cluster characteristics, the epidemiological, hospitalization, and transmission features of children with SARS-CoV-2 were analyzed and discussed. A total of 7 children were enrolled, including 4 mild cases, 1 moderate case, and 2 asymptomatic cases. The common symptoms were fever and dry cough. The length of viral nucleic acid duration in nasopharynx varied and was irrelevant to the severity of the symptom, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic. Two cases showed viral nucleic acid positive recurrence after discharge from the hospital. A child with type 1 diabetes was also focused, for the elevated blood sugar during hospitalization. All these children had close contacts with their family members, some of those were confirmed COVID-19 cases. We provided a holistic and detailed portrayal of the pediatric COVID-19 cases in a typical city of timely response to the epidemic. While the family cluster exhibits the major transmission mode, attention should be paid for the potential risk since the expanded social space of children in future.