The number of COVID-19 cases in children have “increased exponentially,” according to a new report, and state officials are warning that the situation is akin to a “runaway train” as students head back to school for the new year.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association found that there’s been a four-fold increase in COVID-19 cases among children in the past month. Last week alone, there were 180,000 new childhood infections.
In Georgia, where many school districts began the academic year in early August, 1 of every 100 school-aged children was diagnosed with COVID-19 over the past two weeks, according to state officials. That’s a higher rate than within Georgia’s adult population and it’s prompted a wave of school closings.
Many districts in Georgia started the school year without mask requirements.
The situation is similar in Mississippi, where there’s been a 830% spike in COVID-19 cases among children during the first two weeks of school. The International Business Times reports:
Speaking for Mississippi Today’s “The Other Side” podcast, Dr. Anita Henderson said “we’ve got a runaway train in our state in terms of children,” adding that adults should “do everything in their power to put kids first, to do what’s right for the children.” Henderson pointed out the painful truth about Mississippi having “one pediatric children’s hospital” and “one pediatric ICU” in the state that’s already “overwhelmed.”
Mississippi State Epidemiologist Paul Byers said the state is in “as bad of a situation as we can be.” At the Children’s of Mississippi, 28 kids were hospitalized with the virus.
Children under 12 are not yet eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, but other mitigation methods could help curb the spread in schools. The Associated Press reports:
Most epidemiologists say they still believe that in-person school can be conducted safely, and that it’s important considering the academic, social and emotional damage to students since the pandemic slammed into American schools in March 2020.
In some cases, experts say, the reversals reflect a careless approach among districts that acted as if the pandemic were basically over.
“People should realize it’s not over. It’s a real problem, a real public health issue,” said Dr. Tina Tan, a Northwestern University medical professor who chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Infectious Diseases. “You have to do everything to prevent the spread of COVID in the school.”
But many governors are defying public health advice. Seven states have implemented a ban on mask mandates: South Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Texas, Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Iowa.
Florida, in particular, has struggled to contain a recent COVID-19 resurgence that has not spared children. Two hundred and twenty people are dying from the virus every day in the state, and as of August 21st, the last day there was data, 179 children with the virus were hospitalized in Florida. In Texas, that number was 218.
“Enough is enough,” Rocky Hanna, a school superintendent in Florida, explained when he decided to defy Governor Ron DeSantis’ ban on mask mandates. A third grader in his district had just died of COVID-19.
