WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNN) – There’s a new record high for child COVID-19 hospitalizations.
As more students return to school for the first time in a year, some districts are closing schools following deaths and a spike in cases.
There are now growing concerns about rising COVID-19 cases among children who are being hospitalized at the highest rate in more than a year.
New CDC data shows just how seriously the Delta variant can hit people who are unvaccinated.
“Most are either unvaccinated or under the age of 12 and unable to get vaccinated,” explained Dr. Nancy Tofil, director of Pediatric Critical Care at UAB & Children’s of Alabama. “The numbers have been three or four times what we were seeing last winter at its peak.”
The CDC said between August 20 and 26, an average of 330 children were admitted to hospitals every day with COVID-19.
Dr. Tofil said, “When they go back to their community, I have a mission for them to get two or three other people vaccinated and for the kids who are in high school to get some of their classmates vaccinated.”
It comes as COVID-19 concerns force some schools in Florida and Texas to go virtual again.
In Texas, a school district closed schools after two teachers died of COVID-19 in the same week.
In northwest Florida, school districts in two counties also shutting down until after Labor Day, either due to a spike in COVID cases or quarantine-related staffing shortages, or both. Neither district mandates masks for students or staff.
Meanwhile, FDA advisers will meet on September 17th to discuss Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine boosters. That’s just three days before the White House target date.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said, “They are preparing for the likelihood that we will be giving boosters to individuals and logistically will be starting it on the week of September the 20th.”
Last month, the White House announced that starting September 20th booster shots would become available to all adults 8 months after their second vaccine dose. However, that move is pending authorization from the Food and Drug Administration and CDC advisers.
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