The new Delta variant of COVID was well-known from the start to be more dangerous than other strains. Except for being more infectious, there is, perhaps, a much greater threat. More children from the US need hospital care, and doctors are raising awareness of this major issue.
The sad news is brought by The Inquirer. Doctors also demand the adults do a better job when it comes to protecting the little ones, especially those children under the age of 12 years old who cannot be vaccinated for COVID.
Concerning statistics
The US Department of Health and Human Services reveals that child hospitalizations when it comes to COVID-19 increased 84% from July 10 to July 31 nationwide. Pediatric hospitalizations rose from 4 to 13 for New Jersey and to 28 from 20 in Pennsylvania for the same time period.
Although they’re rising, the hospitalization rates for children remain pretty low: 1.1 per 100,000 kids in Pennsylvania, as well as 0.7 per 100,000 when it comes to New Jersey.
Furthermore, according to the Children’s Hospital Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), only between 0.1% and 1.9% of all the known cases of COVID for children needed hospitalization.
John Williams, who is chief of the division of pediatric infectious diseases, shows himself concerned because kids under the age of 12 cannot be vaccinated, the delta strain is spreading rapidly, and a lot of people had been taking fewer precautions. Williams declared, as quoted by The Inquirer:
The only thing protecting these young kids is the rest of us and, as a country, we’re doing a poor job of protecting these young kids right now.
It is interesting to see how the entire situation will evolve, considering that children are generally considered to be at the lowest risk when it comes to COVID infection.
