Child COVID-19 cases steadily increasing as schools welcome back students
Cases of COVID-19 among children have steadily increased in the U.S. since the beginning of July, according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics. And an expert says this rise is just the start of what is to come.
"This is happening before school starts. Schools are opening now," Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at , said Tuesday. "So, Houston Independent school district opens Aug. 23, that's going to be a huge accelerant. ... This is just the beginning, unfortunately," he told CNN.
More than 121,000 child COVID-19 cases were reported in the U.S. last week. That's more than 14 times the number of child cases reported in the week ending June 24, .
Though that coincides with a rise in all-age case rates in the U.S. since early summer, the proportion of child cases is up. Child cases represented 18% of the U.S. total last week, against 14.4% over the whole pandemic, .
Health experts had hoped to get a critical threshold of the population vaccinated against COVID-19 in time to get spread under control for the new school year, is fully vaccinated and cases are once again on the rise.
And with the more transmissible delta variant accounting now for , the situation is growing particularly dangerous for children, experts said.
They have advocated for children to wear masks in school, but some governors have attempted to ban such requirements.
"Why tie the hands of the public health officials behind their backs? You have two weapons here, one is vaccines the other is masking, and for children less than 12 that's the only weapon they have," Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's vaccine advisory committee, told on Tuesday.
Hotez said the U.S. is now at a "screaming level of virus transmission," adding that to really interrupt the spread, 80 to 85% of the population will need to be vaccinated.
"We know from past epidemics what that means, the best way to do this is to vaccinate your way out of it in collaboration with masks," Hotez said. "We can't be either, or — the only way we are going to defeat this virus is with both."
Thousands of students already quarantining
Many schools that have gone back to campus are already seeing the impact of the spread of the virus.
More than 3,000 students and employees have been quarantined in the New Orleans Public School District due to COVID-19 cases in the last week, according to the district's latest tally.
They represent 5.89% of the students and teachers in the district.
Students returned to the New Orleans Public School District on Aug. 12 and are required to wear masks in school facilities, according to the district.
Mask mandates have caused tension in Florida as some schools press to implement them but are going up against Gov. Ron DeSantis' ban against such requirements.
Among the state's 15 largest school districts, at least 3,143 students and 1,371 employees have tested positive for COVID-19 and at least another 11,416 students and staff members have been quarantined or isolated due to COVID-19.
The tallies do not include any cases from the two biggest school districts in Florida — Miami-Dade and Broward — which have not yet returned to school. Broward County Schools begin in-person learning on Wednesday and Miami-Dade begins on Aug. 23.
On Tuesday, Florida's State Board of Education voted unanimously to recommend investigations into the Broward and Alachua districts over their requirement for mask-wearing in school.
In Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey said the state would use federal COVID-19 relief money to increase the funding available to public school districts only if they're open for in-person learning and don't require children to wear masks.
A handful of Arizona districts have imposed mask mandates despite the state law that prohibits them, arguing that the ban cannot go into effect at the earliest, making their current mandates legal.
Hospital stress 'will get worse'
As cases spread, crowding in hospitals has been on the rise as well.
Florida on Tuesday had 16,521 people hospitalized with COVID-19, making up 36.1% of all patients in Florida hospitals, the Florida Hospital Association said.
"There can be no question that many Florida hospitals are stretched to their absolute limits," said Mary C. Mayhew, President and CEO, of the association.
Three-quarters of Florida hospitals are expecting critical staffing shortages in the next seven days, she said in a statement.
In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said that by the end of the week, "we expect to have more Kentuckians in the hospital battling COVID-19 than at any point in this pandemic."
He added: "The situation is serious and alarming, and we are rapidly approaching critical."
States to the south of Kentucky are quickly running out of beds and calling hospitals in the state asking to transfer ICU-level care patients, Kentucky's Public Health Department Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said.
"This will cascade and it will get worse," Stack said.