(CNN) Almost 72,000 children and teens caught Covid-19 last week -- a "substantial" increase from a week earlier, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported Tuesday. The group counted 71,726 new cases from July 22 - 29. That is a "substantial" increase from the nearly 39,000 cases reported a week before, and five times as many kids who were sick at the end of June. After decreases in reported cases over the past couple of months, the July numbers started trending upward again as the highly transmissible Delta variant of the virus became dominant in the country. Children and teens represented 19% of reported cases in the latest weekly data.

Source: CNN August 03, 2021 22:07 UTC