Children with COVID-19 set record in U.S. hospitals and there are concerns

The number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States hit a record high of just over 1,900 on Saturday, as hospitals in the south of the country struggled to fight epidemics caused by the highly transmissible variant Delta.

The Delta variant, which is spreading rapidly among the unvaccinated portion of the U.S. population, has skyrocketed hospitalizations in recent weeks, bringing the number of pediatric hospitalizations to 1,902 on Saturday, according to data from the Department of Health and of the country’s Social Services.

Currently, children account for around 2.4% of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the country. Children under 12 are not eligible to receive the vaccine, making them more vulnerable to infection with the new variant than before during the pandemic.

The number of newly hospitalized COVID-19 patients aged 18 to 29, 30 to 39, and 40 to 49 also hit record highs this week, according to CDC data.

The rise in the number of new cases has increased tensions between conservative heads of state and local districts over whether children should be required to wear masks in school when they return to class this month .

School districts in Florida, Texas and Arizona have demanded that masks be worn in schools, defying orders from Republican state governors who prohibit districts from enforcing such rules.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration has threatened to halt funding for districts that impose mask requirements, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is appealing to the state’s Supreme Court to revoke the Dallas County, the Dallas Morning News reported on Friday.

A fifth of COVID-19-related hospitalizations in the country are in Florida, where the number of patients hospitalized for the disease reached a record 16,100 on Saturday, according to a Reuters tally. More than 90% of the state’s intensive care beds are occupied, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Low vaccination rates have allowed the Delta variant epidemic to accelerate, with some of the highest infection rates and sickest patients concentrated in states where residents have been reluctant to get vaccinated. Just over 50% of the population of the United States is fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

The United States now averages about 129,000 new cases of COVID-19 per day, a number that has doubled in just over two weeks, according to a Reuters tally. The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients is at its highest for six months, and an average of 600 people die each day from COVID-19, double the death rate observed at the end of July.

With information from Reuters