Florida children’s hospitals see pediatric COVID-19 cases soar



[ad_1]

The number of new COVID-19-related hospitalizations among children is increasing in Florida as the state faces an increase in cases due in part to the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus.

On Tuesday, 46 pediatric patients were admitted to Florida hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of pediatric coronavirus patients in the state to 135, according to hospital capacity data from the U.S. Department of Health and Social Services.

Florida is only behind Texas in the current number of children hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19, with the Lone Star State recording a total of 142 as of Tuesday.

According to a Miami Herald analysis of weekly COVID-19 case data, the largest increase in COVID-19 infections in Florida in the past month has been in children under 12, who are not yet eligible to receive one of the three authorized vaccines. for emergency use in the United States

The two-shot Pfizer vaccine has been approved in the country for people as young as 12 years old.

Ronald Ford, chief medical officer at Memorial Healthcare System’s Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Fla., Told the Herald that its emergency rooms were seeing more symptomatic cases in children than in previous outbreaks of COVID. 19.

“In our previous iteration of the pandemic, it was more they were positive but they are not sick or little sick,” he explained. “This is different.… There is a much higher percentage of infected and symptomatic pediatric patients.

Florida has repeatedly broken records for daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations over the past week, and on Tuesday it accounted for about 1 in 5 new cases nationwide.

As of Wednesday, there were a total of 2.6 million infections in the Sunshine State, as well as nearly 40,000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Despite the latest wave, the Governor of Florida. Ron DeSantisRon DeSantis The Memo: DeSantis-Biden Sniping Highlights COVID-19 Frustration DeSantis responds to Biden’s criticism: “Why aren’t you doing your job?” The American pandemic of COVID PLUS hypocrisy (R) opposed the implementation of a mask warrant or statewide vaccination requirements, and even signed directives banning mask warrants in public schools and preventing companies to require proof of vaccination.

While the CDC has said children are at lower risk of developing serious illnesses from COVID-19, the agency updated its guidelines this week to recommend that all teachers, staff, students and students Visitors to K-12 schools wear masks when they return to class. this fall, regardless of vaccination status.

The guidelines follow recent similar recommendations unveiled by the agency that all people wear masks indoors in areas of the country with “high” or “substantial” levels of COVID-19 transmission, based on new data showing that vaccinated people may be able to spread the delta variant to unvaccinated people.



[ad_2]

Source link