Why are more children infected now?

Florida It has become in recent weeks one of the hotbeds of the covid-19 pandemic in the United States, with a sharp increase in infections, even among children and adolescents. And concern grows when the school year is just a few days away.

The southeastern state of the country on Friday recorded its daily record for cases since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 (22,783), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As in other southern states, such as Louisiana, the more contagious delta variant of the coronavirus has spread rapidly in Florida. among the unvaccinated population, which includes many minors.

Vaccinate minors?

The situation rekindled the debate on the need to protect children and adolescents before returning to school and led to a political conflict between Republican governors and the president, Democrat Joe Biden.

Sara Medina is aware of this debate. On Thursday, he traveled with his 12-year-old son Jayden Noel to Miami’s FTX Arena, the home of the local NBA team, turned into a one-day vaccination.

“I wanted my son to be vaccinated because I hope he will go back to school soon, and I just want to make sure he is healthy,” said the 33-year-old mother.

Until recently, the impact of Covid-19 on those under 18, the population least exposed to severe forms of the disease, was hardly mentioned.

Corn it changes. Some 72,000 children and adolescents have contracted the disease in the United States between July 22 and July 29, a figure five times higher than at the end of June, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported on Tuesday.

Nearly 20,000 of those cases were in Florida, according to state data.

The delta variant

Only 1% of minors infected with the coronavirus must be hospitalized, specifies Marcos Mestre, medical director of Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami.

But contagion can lead to complications in children and adolescents with health problems like diabetes or being overweight, he explains.

These complications have led Florida to lead the number of COVID-19 pediatric hospitalizations in the United States, 143 currently, ahead of Texas.

“It’s true that children often don’t get sick like adults with covid,” recalls Mobeen H. Rathore, director of the department of infectious diseases and pediatric immunology at the University of Florida.

“But they too get sick, they are also hospitalized, they also enter intensive care and also die of covid,” he notes.

The expert recommends vaccinating all children over 12, while the United States allows vaccines against covid-19 for those under that age.

Chinstrap at school

Faced with the rebound of the pandemic, the CDC now recommend that students, teachers and other school employees wear chin straps, vaccinated or not, to stop the contagion.

His message contrasts with that of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who signed an executive order last week to prevent public schools from forcing their students to wear masks.

The Republican politician threatened to withdraw public funds from school districts that did not comply with his order, provoking resistance from several schools.

After days of uncertainty The Florida Department of Health on Friday allowed schools to require the use of face masks in your facilities.

But, in an attempt to make everyone happy, he also gave students permission to ignore this obligation if their parents asked for it.

Political conflict

The debate has crossed Florida boundaries and even reached the White House. On Tuesday, Biden slammed DeSantis and other Republican governors who oppose masks in schools.

“If you’re not going to help, walk away,” he told them at a press conference.

“If he’s disturbing rights in Florida, I’m getting in his way,” DeSantis replied to the president on Wednesday.

Unaware of the political quarrel, Sara Medina is especially delighted that her son can finally resume a face-to-face education after a “somewhat crazy” year.

Jayden Noel agrees with his mother. “Last year we had to stay home all the time and it was starting to get pretty boring,” he recalls.

Regarding the masks, he believes that “it is important” to wear them, “so that everyone is safe”.

Source: AFP

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