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© Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images
East College Prep High School senior Jocelyn Hernandez takes an Advanced Placement (AP) distance calculus course while sitting in a community garden near her home on August 14, 2020 in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. – Due to the continuing coronavirus pandemic, all schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will be closed and students will return to class via distance learning when the 2020-2021 school year begins on August 18 2020 (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)) (Photo by ROBYN BECK / AFP via Getty Images)
Health experts say children account for more than 7% of all coronavirus cases in the United States – while comprising about 22% of the country’s population – and that the number and rate of child cases has “steadily increased” from March to July.
The data was released alongside updated guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for pediatricians, which also includes what is known about the virus in children.
“Recent evidence suggests that children probably have the same or higher viral loads in their nasopharynx compared to adults and that children can spread the virus effectively in homes and camps,” the guide says.
Transmission of the virus to and between children may have been reduced in the spring and early summer due to mitigation measures such as stay-at-home orders and school closings, according to the CDC.
But now schools and universities across the country are reopening and in some cases have had to readjust their approach following positive tests among students and staff. How to accommodate students safely has been an ongoing debate between local and state leaders, as some push for a return to normalcy and others fear that returning to class could prove fatal for some. In some cases, teachers have chosen to quit rather than risk contracting the virus.
“So if I’m put in a classroom with 30 or more kids, it’s a small room, there’s an exit, the ventilation is not very good for schools,” Matt Chicci told CNN. , Arizona teacher, who quit her job. “It’s not a good situation.”
In Georgia, where several districts have reopened in recent weeks, more than 1,000 students and staff have been asked to self-quarantine following cases of coronavirus or exposure to an infected person.
A 15-year-old boy from the Atlanta area has become the second youngest person to die from Covid-19 in the state, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health (GDPH). Earlier this month, a 7-year-old boy from Savannah passed away.
Officials have not released any further details on how the teenager contracted the coronavirus or whether he may have exposed others. But the boy suffered from other health problems, Nancy Nydam, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Public Health, told CNN.
There were 3,372 new cases of coronavirus reported on Saturday and 96 deaths, according to data released by the state’s health department. There have been a total of 235,168 confirmed cases and 4,669 deaths in the state.
North Paulding High School, which came under scrutiny when a student shared a photo of a crowded hallway days after the school reopened, reported 12 cases to the school and 21 cases in total during the week of August 8 to 14. week and will work on campus from Monday.
‘School cases’ refer to the number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 and have spent time on a school campus, while total cases also include students and staff who have been tested positive for the virus but were not in school. , enrolled in e-learning or quarantined after potentially exposure, the Paulding County School District said.
In another public school system north of Atlanta, Courtney Smith decided to transfer her daughters to a charter school after seeing classrooms with 30 to 40 students and few wearing masks.
“As parents our number 1 job is to protect our babies and I felt like I was dropping mine into a death trap,” said Smith, whose daughters were enrolled in the Cherokee County School District. . “There have been a lot of tears shed by me and shed by my children last week.”
More than 100 cases have been reported and more than 1,000 students and staff have been quarantined in the past two weeks, the district said.
The ‘mini-ball’ raises concerns
In Illinois, health officials are looking for people who attended an unofficial “mini-ball.” At least five cases were linked to the event and 40 close contacts were identified.
While some U.S. officials – including the president – have downplayed coronavirus risk positions on children, new CDC guidelines say children can develop serious illness and complications, even if that risk is lower than that of children. adults. The rate of hospitalizations among children is increasing, according to guidelines, and among those hospitalized, one in three children is admitted to intensive care – the same as adults.
In the United States, more than 5.3 million people have been infected with the virus and at least 169,146 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
More than 7,000 children have tested positive in Alabama, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health website.
Three pediatric deaths have been reported in Alabama, Dr Karen Landers, ADHD regional health manager, told CNN in an email. The deaths were two infants and a teenager, all with underlying health issues.
The age group with the most cases is 25 to 49, accounting for 40.24% of all cases in the state, the website says.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Saturday said hospitalizations for Covid-19 statewide were at a new low since March 17.
New York has been the hotbed of the pandemic from the start. It now reports 523 people hospitalized with the virus, Cuomo said in a press release.
Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Health reported 6,352 new cases and 204 more deaths on Saturday. That’s 53 consecutive days of more than 4,000 cases in a single day, according to CNN’s tally.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed an executive order requiring testing for Covid-19 in prisons and prisons, according to a press release on Saturday.
Black and Latin populations hit hard in hotspots
Research released by the CDC on Friday also showed that in the hot spot counties of the United States, blacks and Latin Americans have been hit hard by the virus, with the majority of counties reporting disparities in coronavirus cases in one or more racial or ethnic groups.
“These results illustrate the disproportionate incidence of Covid-19 among communities of color, as has been shown by other studies, and suggest that a high percentage of cases in hotspot counties are among people of color.” , said the authors.
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, health officials said collecting data on the impact of coronaviruses by race has helped them better develop a strategy to respond to the pandemic.
“[It] has helped us change our strategy so we can increase our reach, add additional testing sites, just really help our communities of color prevent their exposure to Covid-19, ”said Jeanette Kowalik, health commissioner in the department of Milwaukee Health.
Kowalik said the data had led to conversations that would not have happened if officials had not known more people of color were affected by the virus.
Track the virus
Doctors warn of lasting heart complications
With new evidence and data on the virus emerging almost every week, health officials now have another warning: The risk of death from heart damage from coronavirus appears to be much higher than previously thought, said the American Heart Association.
“Basically, this virus can set the bodies of some patients on fire, including their hearts,” Dr Dara Kass, an emergency physician at Columbia University Medical School, told CNN’s Bianna Golodryga on Saturday.
Inflammation of the vascular system and heart damage occur in 20% to 30% of hospitalized coronavirus patients and contribute to 40% of deaths, the association said on Friday.
Dr Mitchell Elkind, president of the association, said heart complications from Covid-19 could be “devastating” and linger after recovery.
The AHA said research indicates that the coronavirus could lead to heart attacks, acute coronary syndromes, strokes, blood pressure abnormalities, clotting problems, inflammation of the heart muscle and fatal irregularities in the heart. heartbeat.
It’s a statement that has long been suggested by coronavirus patients across the country, whose bodies have been attacked in different ways by the coronavirus.
In Florida, a 21-year-old suffered from heart failure in hospital and weeks after recovering his heart rate is still being monitored and he is taking blood pressure medication – drugs his doctors say could continue for at least a year. .
Kass said people 50 and under with healthy immune systems were affected.
“These are the patients who survive this virus, but now they are going to have a new chronic medical condition related to the survival of this virus that we need to recognize and treat,” Kass said.
Yet, Elkind says, there is still a critical need for further research.
“We just don’t have enough information to provide the definitive answers people want and need.”
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