In the USA, the corona pandemic is increasingly becoming a problem for the youngest. The number of infections among children is skyrocketing, the hospitals are overloaded – and that just before the start of the new school year. Experts are sounding the alarm.
The delta variant of the coronavirus is raging in the United States. Most recently, almost 100,000 new infections were reported daily. Children are also increasingly affected. In the first week of August alone, almost 94,000 corona cases were documented in children, report the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association in a weekly report in which the cases are broken down by US states. The health experts are sounding the alarm.
Case numbers are skyrocketing in Florida, Louisiana, Texas. In Louisiana, more than 6,000 children have already been infected with the virus, and around 3,000 cases were added within four days. The increase in infections also means that the number of children seriously ill with Covid-19 who have to be treated in hospital is increasing. Currently there are more than ever in the pandemic, in Florida just under 180, in Texas around 160, in California almost 100. The number of hospital admissions in pediatrics is currently 3.75 times higher than it was before one Month, calculates “ABC News”.
Children’s hospitals at the limit
“Our pediatricians, the nurses, the staff are exhausted, and the children are suffering. And it is absolutely devastating … our children are very badly affected. We have never seen numbers like this before,” said Aileen Marty, an infectious disease expert at the Florida International University, to “CNN”. Mark Kline, chief physician at New Orleans Children’s Hospital, reported on the ABC program “Good Morning America” on Monday: “We have a record number of children in the hospital.” It is an epidemic “among very young children”.
And: “Half of the children in our hospital today are under two years old. Most of the others are between five and ten years old – too young to be vaccinated.” The median age in June was 16 years, in July it was 12 years and has now fallen even further. “The Ochsner Medical Center reported this week that the new average age of a pediatric Covid-19 patient is now ** 5 years **,” writes US epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding on Twitter.
Approval of vaccines for children expected
In the USA, the corona vaccine from Biontech / Pfizer was approved for children from 12 years of age back in May. But according to the US Disease and Prevention Agency CDC, not even 30 percent of 12 to 15-year-olds in the country are fully vaccinated, compared with 41 percent of 16 and 17-year-olds. There is currently no vaccination option for younger children, but the calls for it are getting louder.
The risk of children getting seriously ill with Covid-19 is still considered to be comparatively low. However, there is increasing evidence that Long Covid could also become a growing problem with children. Estimates on this subject still differ widely. Although there is no clear study, 2 to 4 percent will probably get at least Long Covid, according to health expert Karl Lauterbach on Twitter. “It is also unclear whether all neurological symptoms will completely heal.”
And: Children can also transmit the virus. “Unfortunately, as the remaining non-vaccine-eligible population, children will be the primary carriers of the virus, which puts them at risk for themselves and the rest of the population,” said John Brownstein, epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and ABC News staff.
The pressure on the FDA is growing. It is expected that the approval of corona vaccines will be expanded this month. At least that is what the US immunologist Anthony Fauci promised. He hoped, he said on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, that the vaccine would be fully approved in the coming weeks.
Return to schools
The recent increase in the number of infections comes at an inopportune time. In the USA, too, they are about to return to school. Many health professionals see vaccination of children as an important tool to curb the spread in schools. But vaccination fatigue in the USA is great. A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that almost half of Americans who are still unvaccinated (46 percent) definitely do not want to be vaccinated. In addition, there are the results of a national vaccination survey by the CDC. Accordingly, 24.8 percent of the interviewed parents of children between the ages of 13 and 17 stated that they “probably or definitely not have them vaccinated”.
Most children become infected, especially in areas where the vaccination rate is low – many in their own families. For example, “NBC News” reported on half a dozen doctors who told of infected children who had become infected from a household member that it was often an unvaccinated parent who brought the coronavirus home with them.
If not the vaccination, then what?
The debate about corona measures in schools has long been rekindled. The CDC recommends that everyone without exception, i.e. students, teachers, visitors, should wear masks in schools. “Why do we urgently need masks in schools? Because we know from the UK that the number of cases of infection in schools always increases when unmasked children come together,” comments Feigl-Ding on Twitter. There was an increase in the number of infections there in May, which fell during the holiday season and increased again when they returned to schools. He also quotes from a study that shows that Sars-CoV-2 aerosols can “stay in the air for hours”. “That’s why we need ventilation in schools, air disinfection and masks – and not Plexiglas,” he writes.
But there is still no consensus on the protective measures. For example, there is Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The Republican bans school districts and other local authorities from wearing masks by ordinance. And elsewhere, like Orange County, Florida, people say they want to prescribe the masks, but that’s basically a fig leaf. Because the last word is up to the parents, who can exempt their child from the mask requirement by signing.
“Since schools act as accelerators, you should assume that pediatric intensive care units across the south will be completely overloaded,” said Peter Hotez of Baylor College of Medicine on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. He painted a bleak picture for the coming weeks. So, he said, there is even the possibility that small tent cities with sick young people and children will emerge. “If your growing child is not vaccinated, you should assume that there is a high probability that they will get Covid,” said Hotez.
“The wave of infection that is now rolling in in schools in the US is worrying,” said Lauterbach, commenting on the figures from the USA. It would not be a normal school year without vaccinations and air filter systems. He describes the reports from the Houston hospitals as “a clear warning.” He writes: “So far we have no experience with the Delta variant in regular classes. Very high case numbers are to be expected. The fact that Long Covid does not materialize is wishful thinking.”
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