Early data suggests children are much less likely than adults to develop severe cases of COVID-19.
The numbers are included in a joint study still underway by the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program that may ease parent fears about the risks of sending kids back to school.
Principal investigator Doctor Fatima Kakkar says the research backs up anecdotal evidence that COVID-19 has largely mild impacts on kids.
Statistics from the Public Health Agency of Canada reveal only 1.4 per cent of 10,467 infected kids and teens ended up in hospital with the disease, compared to 13.5 per cent of 84,979 cases involving all ages.
Still, researchers caution the results are preliminary and cover cases that emerged when most schools were closed and most children had relatively little exposure to possible infection outside the home.