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SEATTLE – The American Academy of Pediatrics has confirmed nationally that approximately 72,000 children and adolescents contracted COVID-19 last week, up from 39,000 the week before. That’s an 84% increase.
Doctors said the highly contagious delta variant was increasing cases.
Dr. John McGuire works in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Seattle Children’s. He said they were treating more children with severe cases of COVID-19. He has seen the rise over the past few weeks.
“The people we see in the hospital are usually unvaccinated people, either teenagers who aren’t vaccinated, or younger people who can’t be vaccinated,” McGuire said. “We are clearly in a fifth wave here in Washington. And in proportion to that, we are seeing an increase in the number of children requiring hospitalization and intensive care. “
He said that to protect young children who cannot get vaccinated, other family members need to get vaccinated.
According to McGuire, more and more children catch colds and other viruses when they start circulating in the community. He suggests parents get their children tested if they start showing symptoms to determine if it could be a COVID-19 infection.
“The delta variant is a game loader because it has more viral load, and we see people of all ages contracting the delta variant as having a lot more virus particles that literally overwhelm the system,” Dr. Bob Lutz said, of Washington State. COVID-19 Health Ministry Medical Advisor.
He believes it is likely that the number of children with COVID-19 went undetected during much of the pandemic because they did not show any symptoms.
“We are seeing a lot more people of all ages, children than we have never seen before, probably because they had minimal symptoms. Now they have symptoms, and their parents are aware of it; doctors are aware of it, ”said Lutz.
The increase in the number of cases comes just weeks before the start of the school year.
The health ministry said it was monitoring the situation closely and would exercise caution in making its recommendations as students return to school.
© 2021 Cox Media Group
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