evidence: COVID-19 is a highly contagious respiratory illness that affects children and adults of all ages. Children are more likely than adults to have no symptoms or a mild infection from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. But some children experience severe illness that requires care in a hospital or intensive care unit (ICU). Children with underlying medical conditions like Type 2 diabetes or heart or lung disease have an increased risk of getting very sick from COVID. [...] It’s not always easy to tell if your child has COVID just by looking at their symptoms. This is because COVID symptoms in kids resemble symptoms of other common infections, like the flu and RSV. [...] Most kids recover and bounce back just fine after COVID. But some children develop post-COVID conditions, also known as long COVID. This is a collection of symptoms a person experiences within three months of their first COVID symptoms. Long COVID is less common in children compared to adults.