On Mar. 2, 2021, the NIH announced that it had launched a research effort to understand how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, affects children, who account for roughly 13% of the total cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. The effort was named the Collaboration to Assess Risk and Identify Long-term Outcomes for Children with COVID (CARING for Children with COVID).

This research program developed and funded studies to investigate why some children are at greater risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection than others, why symptoms vary among children who are infected, and how to identify children at risk for severe illness from SARS-CoV-2 infection.