Healthy Florida children fall increasingly ill with COVID as more than 170 hospitalized

The highly contagious Delta variant of COVID is sending increasing numbers of children to Florida hospitals, as record numbers are reported in the state.

According to data shared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Sunday, Florida has the highest number of children hospitalized for COVID of any state in the country, with 172 currently being treated in medical facilities.

This figure is an increase from the 143 children hospitalized with COVID in Florida at the end of last week, as Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious disease expert at Florida International University, told CNN on Friday night that the facilities were due. hard to cope.

“The number of cases in our children’s hospitals and our children’s hospitals is completely exceeded,” Marty said of the growing number of children in hospital.

“Our pediatricians, nurses, staff are exhausted and the children are suffering. And it is absolutely devastating… Our children are very affected. We have never seen numbers like this before.”

Dr Kenneth Alexander, head of the infectious disease division at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, Fla., Echoed Marty’s comments to ABC affiliate WFTV on Friday and revealed that a child is died last week while another is on a ventilator at the medical center.

“The youngest patient who is currently in our hospital on a ventilator has no particular risk factors. The deceased child had complex underlying medical issues,” said Alexander. “Unlike when the pandemic started, when the virus didn’t seem to do much in children, now it is making children sick.”

Nemours reported that seven children were receiving treatment at his facility on Friday, with two of the patients in intensive care, while the nearby Arnold Palmer Hospital had eight children in the medical center.

The number of children severely affected by COVID has also increased recently in several other states, with Arkansas and Tennessee reporting that three children and two minors have now died in the last month respectively after contracting the virus.

The increase in the number of children hospitalized in Florida comes as schools statewide reopen for the start of the school year this week, with Governor Ron DeSantis banning universities from introducing mask requirements facial.

However, several school districts in the state have implemented face mask mandates for the start of the school year, despite DeSantis’ executive order threatening their funding if they defy the order.

The use of face masks by students follows a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which advises teachers, students and other staff to wear face covers in schools.

The state’s most recent figures showed Florida again broke its record for COVID hospitalizations on Friday, with 13,747 in medical facilities and 2,750 patients in intensive care.

The state also saw 93 people die of COVID on Friday, up from 199 the day before, while 43% of the state’s intensive care beds were occupied by COVID patients, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Resources. Social services.

Florida 23,903 new cases of COVID as of Friday, according to data released Saturday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breaking Thursday’s record of 22,783 new positive tests.