Adjudicating Reasons for Hospitalization Reveals That Severe Illness From COVID-19 in Children Is Rare

This commentary idiscusses two studies evaluating pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations. Kushner et al. found that 45% of hospitalizations were 'unlikely' to be caused by SARS-CoV-2, with children admitted for a variety of other conditions. Webb et al. reported that only 24% of pediatric admissions were primarily due to COVID-19, while the remainder involved other underlying reasons. Together, these findings suggest that reported hospitalization numbers greatly overestimate the true burden of COVID-19 in children.