American Coronavirus: More than 500,000 children have tested positive for Covid-19 in 3 weeks. Experts say school mask warrants are needed

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More than 500,000 children tested positive for Covid-19 in the United States from August 5 to 26, according to state data collected by the American Academy of Pediatrics. At least 203,962 of these cases were reported during the week of August 19-26; At the end of June, a reported weekly figure was just under 8,500.

“The virus is raging in all of these kids who are not vaccinated, which is why in schools, mask warrants are so important,” CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner told Jake Tapper. last week, pointing out that vaccination rates are also low among adolescents who are eligible. “They have no other protection. They are literally sitting ducks.”

More states and school districts across the country are imposing mask and vaccine warrants, while others are working to limit exposure to Covid-19 among the unvaccinated. New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday announced plans to implement mandatory weekly Covid-19 testing for public school staff who are not vaccinated.

“We all need to remain vigilant to protect each other – and that means coming in to get your injection and booster injection, wearing masks in indoor spaces, and applying basic safety precautions we all know by now,” Hochul said.

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For teens 12 and older who attend classes, it remains imperative that they receive vaccines to help curb the spread of Covid-19, officials say. And vaccination mandates, while unpopular to some, may be a necessary step.

“I think requiring vaccines to get kids to show up at school is a good idea,” Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN this week, noting that this would not be a radical idea to impose.

“It’s not something new. We have mandates in many places in schools, especially public schools, that if in fact you want a child to come – we’ve been doing that for decades and decades requiring (vaccines for) polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis, “Fauci said.” So that wouldn’t be anything new, requiring vaccinations for kids to come to school. “

A healthcare worker administers a Covid-19 test to a child at the Austin Regional Clinic's vaccination and drive-thru test site in Austin, Texas on Thursday, August 5, 2021.

Authorities await additional vaccine data soon

Aware of the anxiety some parents and guardians feel for sending their children back to school unvaccinated, health officials say they are working to determine whether the vaccine eligibility age can be lowered.

If cleared, the CDC would act quickly to recommend the use of Covid-19 vaccines in young children, agency director Dr Rochelle Walensky said.

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“Everyone is watching this urgently. Everyone recognizes how important it is for these children to have access to vaccines,” Walensky said at a National Parent Teacher Association town hall meeting on Wednesday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must first approve or authorize vaccines in young children, Walensky noted. And vaccine makers must advocate with the FDA with clinical trial data.

“My understanding of the timeline is pretty consistent with what’s being said – mid-fall is as I understand it, early fall is when we expect to see the data – and then it will be between. hands of the FDA. And I have high hopes for the end of the year, “she said.

Pfizer / BioNTech’s vaccine has been fully approved by the FDA for Americans 16 years of age and older, and emergency use clearance has been granted for those 12 years of age and older. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are authorized for emergency use only for adults 18 years of age and older.

Moderna announced last week that it has completed its submission to the FDA for full approval, and has also filed with the FDA for emergency use authorization for its vaccine in people aged 12 and older.

Clinical trials of vaccines for children under 12 are underway.

Fauci said on Wednesday that the FDA should have the data to consider authorizing a Covid-19 vaccine for children under 12 by the end of September.

“We should have enough data to review and make a decision as the end of September, early October approaches,” Fauci said. “Then the data will be presented to the FDA, and the FDA will determine whether to grant it as part of an emergency use authorization or some other mechanism.”

When asked if a Covid-19 vaccine would be cleared for young children before Thanksgiving, Fauci said he hoped so, but didn’t want to get ahead of the FDA.

Group Says Nursing Shortage a ‘National Crisis’

With the increase in hospitalizations being felt nationwide, an exhausted healthcare industry constantly exposed to Covid-19 infection has at times resulted in fewer employees. States and networks have called for higher staffing levels at a critical time in the pandemic.

The American Nurses Association has called on the US Department of Health and Human Services to declare the nursing shortage in the country a “national crisis,” according to a letter the group sent to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.

“The country’s healthcare delivery systems are overwhelmed and nurses are tired and frustrated as this persistent pandemic rages with no end in sight. Nurses alone cannot solve this long-standing problem and it is not. our burden to bear, ”said association president Ernest Grant. Wednesday.

Hospital staff remain at risk for Covid-19, researchers reported on Wednesday. Due to a combination of waning vaccine protection and the Delta variant, coronavirus infections have steadily increased among vaccinated healthcare workers in San Diego, wrote Dr Jocelyn Keehner and Dr Lucy Horton of the University of California to San Diego Health in a letter to the New English Journal of Medicine.

They note that their findings support the case for more frequent use of masks as well as the potential offer of vaccine booster doses if similar evidence is gathered elsewhere.

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The pressure on health systems is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, but there are signs that the situation may start to improve.

For the second week in a row, an overall forecast from the CDC predicted that new hospitalizations for Covid-19 are expected to remain stable or have an uncertain trend over the next four weeks. Prior to last week, forecasts predicted an increase in hospitalizations since mid-July.

Still, despite potential news that the outbreak may abate soon, the CDC calls for caution with the data as actual numbers have fallen outside the range of previous forecasts. The CDC’s latest forecast calls for 550,000 to 1,600,000 new cases likely to be reported in the week ending September 25.

In the short term, Fauci told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer it would help people practice mitigation measures, like masking and avoiding rally settings.

“In the medium to long term, it will be the vaccines that will solve this problem,” Fauci said.

CNN’s Naomi Thomas, Lauren Mascarenhas, Jacqueline Howard, Maggie Fox, Amanda Sealy, Lauren del Valle and Madeline Holcombe contributed to this report.

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