Number of hospitalized children Coronavirus disease In the United States, a record high of more than 1,900 cases was set on Saturday, as hospitals across the South are doing their best to deal with the epidemic caused by the highly infectious delta virus.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Delta variant has spread rapidly among unvaccinated people in the United States, leading to a surge in hospitalizations in recent weeks, with the number of pediatric hospitalizations increasing to 1,902 on Saturday. .
Currently, children account for approximately 2.4% of the COVID-19 hospitalizations nationwide. Children under the age of 12 are not eligible for vaccination, which makes them more susceptible to this new, highly transmitted variant than they were at the beginning of the pandemic.
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According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of COVID-19 patients aged 18-29, 30-39, and 40-49 who were newly hospitalized this week also hit a record high.
The surge in new cases has exacerbated tensions between conservative state leaders and local areas on whether children should be required to wear masks in school when they return to classrooms this month.
School districts in Florida, Texas, and Arizona have made it mandatory to wear masks in schools, ignoring the Republican governor’s order to prohibit school districts from implementing such regulations. According to a report in the Dallas Morning News on Friday, the government of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (Ron DeSantis) threatened to withhold funds from areas implementing mask requirements. Texas Governor Greg Abbott (Greg Abbott) Abbott) is appealing to the state Supreme Court to overturn the authorization of masks in Dallas County.
According to Reuters statistics, one-fifth of COVID-19 hospitalized patients in the United States are in Florida, and the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized on Saturday reached a record 16,100. According to data from the Department of Health and Human Services, more than 90% of intensive care beds in the state are full.
The National Education Association, the largest teacher union in the United States, came out this week to support compulsory vaccination of its members. NEA President Becky Pringle said on Saturday that schools should adopt all mitigation strategies, from vaccines to masks, to ensure that students can safely return to class during the school year.
“Our students under the age of 12 cannot be vaccinated. It is our responsibility to protect their safety. Keeping them safe means that everyone who can be vaccinated should be vaccinated,” Pringle told CNN.
The low vaccination rate has accelerated the outbreak of the Delta variant, and some of the patients with the highest infection rates and the most serious illnesses are concentrated in states where residents do not want to be vaccinated. According to the CDC, more than 50% of the US population is fully vaccinated.
According to Reuters statistics, the United States now has an average of approximately 129,000 new COVID-19 cases every day, and this rate has doubled in a little over two weeks. The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized is at a six-month high, and an average of 600 people die from COVID-19 every day, which is twice the death rate in late July.
According to Reuters statistics, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oregon reported a record number of COVID-19 hospitalizations this month, bringing intensive care units close to capacity and forcing states to seek medical care from the federal government. assistance.
In Oregon, Governor Kate Brown said on Friday that she will send 500 members of the National Guard to assist overwhelmed hospitals, and a total of 1,500 members can help.
In Jackson, Mississippi, federal medical workers are assisting understaffed local teams in a 20-bed triage center in the parking lot of the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) to accommodate overflowing COVID-19 patients.
The hospital stated that as of Saturday morning, UMMC had 15 children and 99 adults hospitalized due to COVID-19. More than 77% of patients are not vaccinated.
— Reported by Lisa Shoemaker
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