[ad_1]
Rising COVID-19 infections in children in the United States have triggered an influx of pediatric hospitalizations in parts of the country in recent weeks, alarming parents and experts as the country prepares to send children back to the school in person.
More than 1,400 children have been hospitalized with COVID-19 in the last week of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reaching a record average of 239 pediatric admissions per day over seven days.
The hospitalizations are straining several children’s hospitals across the country, with some in Louisiana and Texas reporting a bed shortage.
“While the kids have been more resilient, and that’s good news, they’re not immortal around it,” said Mark Wietecha, CEO of the Children’s Hospital Association. “We had a lot of children who died and a lot of children were affected. And we just encourage parents to be as diligent as possible.
As hospitals fight an increase in coronavirus infections in children, many institutions across the country have also reported an increase in cases of a respiratory virus called RSV which typically strikes in the fall and winter but has already attacked this. summer.
Before a recent wave of COVID-19 pediatric patients, the New Orleans Children’s Hospital had been operating at full capacity since at least June amid these viral cases, said Leron Finger, the hospital’s quality manager.
Texas Children’s Hospital reported 45 hospitalizations for COVID-19 on Wednesday, including at least 25 with RSV and COVID-19, the Houston Chronicle reported. About half of the hospital patients with the two viruses are infants and most are under 5 years old.
Viral infections coupled with the rapid increase in coronavirus cases in older children pose a double threat to many families.
Finger said his Louisiana hospital had seen an “exponential increase” in the number of COVID-19 pediatric patients since the end of July.
Patients’ ages range from infancy to their early twenties, with none fully immunized and most previously healthy children, he said.
“We have certainly seen more children and more young adults getting seriously ill during this wave than at any time,” Finger said.
The American Academy of Pediatrics found nearly 94,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in children last week, or 15% of all COVID-19 cases in the United States
The highly contagious delta variant has led to an overall increase in cases across the country, with officials saying the vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths have been among unvaccinated people.
Health experts still consider children to be at a lower risk of serious illness and hospitalization, but as more adults are vaccinated, children make up a larger portion of the unvaccinated population that is. more sensitive to the variant.
Experts also note that although it is not clear at this point whether the delta strain causes more serious illness in children, with a higher number of cases in general, more hospital admissions are expected.
Keri Althoff, associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said the increase in the number of child cases “is in step” with the increase in the delta.
“The question is really whether the rate of hospitalization changes among children? Althoff said. “And what that would signal is that this virus works differently in children.”
Wietecha, with the Association of Children’s Hospitals, said states with the lowest vaccination rates among 12 to 17 year olds have the “most congestion” in children’s hospitals.
Arkansas Children’s Hospital reported its highest number of COVID-19-related hospitalizations throughout the pandemic in late July with 24 admissions.
“In terms of understanding the vaccine’s ability to keep children out of the hospital and the effectiveness of masking and social distancing, all of these things work, and where we don’t do these things, we have a growth in the number of cases and we have a growth in our hospitals, ”he said.
Children under 12 remain ineligible to receive the vaccine, and adolescent vaccination rates are limited, leaving much of the younger population at risk of contracting COVID-19 as the Delta sweeps the country.
Wietecha pointed out that pediatric beds are also filling up with people struggling with RSV as well as mental health issues.
Cases of RSV, which causes flu-like symptoms and can be fatal to babies and toddlers, skyrocketed from June.
The increase in cases preceded or affected COVID-19 in several states, pushing children’s hospitals to their limits. Texas saw an apparent peak of more than 500 confirmed cases of RSV in mid-July, around the same time the state’s daily COVID-19 rate rose.
Regarding COVID-19, it is not known when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will authorize vaccinations for children under the age of 12.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) called on the FDA last week to speed up the clearance of vaccinations for this age group as the school year approaches.
In total, less than 12% of all children, including those eligible for the vaccine, are fully immunized against COVID-19, according to data from the Mayo Clinic.
Still, schools are expected to resume in-person learning in the coming weeks.
Asked about his concerns about the return to school of school-aged children, President Biden
Joe BidenBriahna Joy Gray: Progressives Should Celebrate Passage of Budget, Stay Focused on Fight Officials are still looking for parents of 337 separated children, court record says former US lawyer in Atlanta brutal resignation due to failure to peddle Trump’s election fraud claim MORE said Tuesday: “My concerns are deep and I am very worried.”
“I also understand that the reason children get infected is that in most cases they live in states and communities with low vaccination rates and they get it from unvaccinated adults,” he said. added Biden. “This is what is happening. And so my plea is that for those who are not vaccinated, think about it. “
To protect unvaccinated children, experts said all eligible household members should be vaccinated and families should use precautions such as masking and distancing.
Although children accounted for around 0.1% of all deaths from COVID-19, experts noted that the virus has still killed hundreds of children and that little is known about the effects. of long COVID-19 in children.
[ad_2]
Source link