When millions of students return to school, pediatric cases of COVID-19 increase.
As millions of students return to classrooms, the United States faces the largest pediatric COVID-19 rise to date, with a record number of American children now testing positive for the virus each week.
In the last week alone, nearly 252,000 children in the United States have tested positive for COVID-19, the largest increase in pediatric cases in a week since the pandemic began, according to a recent weekly report by the U.S. ‘American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, more than 5 million children have tested positive for the virus and in the last month alone there have been more than 750,000 confirmed pediatric cases, after the country has experienced an “exponential” increase in infections, according to the organizations.
The weekly figure is now almost 300 times higher than in June, when only 8,400 pediatric cases were reported over a week.
The South now accounts for more than half of new pediatric infections, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a similar trend, the rate of pediatric hospital admissions per 100,000 people is also at one of its highest pandemic points, 600% higher than on July 4, according to federal data. The admission rate is also almost 308% higher than a year ago.
In the United States, just under 2,400 children are hospitalized with a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection.
In Texas, where the governor has banned mask warrants from schools, there are more children hospitalized with COVID-19 than anywhere else in the country.
“We call this the fourth wave … but it has certainly been by far the most shocking increase, which has really affected children and adolescents,” Dr. James Versalovic, chief pathologist at ABC News, told ABC News. Texas Children’s Hospital. .
Brennah Gurganious, 11, ended up fighting for her life with a fan. He was too young to get vaccinated and his mother says he received COVID a few days after returning to his Texas classroom.
“Her lungs were going through hell … They’ve been doing respiratory treatments every four hours and then aspirating her lungs at the same time,” her mother, Terri Gurganious, told ABC News.
Serious illness and death from COVID-19 remain “uncommon” among children, the two organizations wrote in the report.
However, the AAP and CHA warned that there is an urgent need to collect more data on the long-term consequences of the pandemic in children, “including ways in which the virus can harm long-term physical health. term of infected children, as well as their emotional and mental health effects “.