COVID-19 hospitalisation rate rise in children as US schools reopen: CDC

As the Delta variation of COVID-19 topples over the Unites States, doctors expressed their concern on the significant increase in the number of children getting badly affected by the infection, amid the reopening of schools. As per CNN, the associate professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez stated that the scenario is worrying. He further stated that this virus is mostly targeting those who have not been immunised in which those adolescents, as well as children who were not eligible for the vaccination, are getting affected.  

According to statistics from the US Department of Health and Human Services, a total number of 2,396 children were hospitalised with COVID-19 disease as of Tuesday, September 7. While the data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that an average of 369 pediatric COVID-19 cases were hospitalised per day by the end of September 6.  

The CDC report also implies that over 55,000 youngsters have been hospitalised with Covid-19 through August 2020, who had no prior medical history. Though the fatalities related to the infections are still not rampant, yet, approximately 520 children had died due to COVID-19 as of Wednesday. 

More about the children hospitalised due to COVID-19

From the previous school year, the Alpha variant of the COVID-19 has been overtaken by the Delta variant which is an even more contagious version as well as the most prevalent in the United States. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, Children cases related to COVID-19 have grown rapidly, with more than 750,000 instances reported between August 5 and September 2. Around 252,000 new incidents were identified during the last week which is considered to be the highest in a single week after the COVID-19 outbreak.  

Further, as per the CDC statistics from nearly 100 US districts, nearly half of children hospitalised with Covid-19 disease had no known existing illness during March 2020 and June 2021.  

As the schools have opened in several parts of the US, the CDC further suggests that children from kindergarten through grade 12, as well as teachers and visitors, will have to wear masks at school to avoid the extremely infectious Delta strain affecting the nation. Even the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that everyone above the age of two should wear a mask at school. On the other hand, as per CNN, nearly thousands of kids across Mississippi and Florida have already been quarantined before the school year begins.

(Image: AP)