Child hospitalisations in US at record high, paediatric wings packed

Child
hospitalisations in the United States are at a record high with paediatric
wards of hospitals brimming. Numbers show that the US has not seen such a surge
since January when cases and deaths were at their peak. Some doctors in
hospitals most affected by the recent surge say that the situation is worse
than it was in January.

The US has
been seeing a sudden rise in child hospitalisations. As of Wednesday, US
hospitals were treating more than 1,200 children a day, twice the number from
the end of July and four times from the beginning of July, according to an NBC
news report.

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Data
released by the American Academy of Pediatrics show that COVID-19 cases among
children rose from 8,400 in June to 93,800 in the first week of August.

The medical
director of infection prevention at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, Hysmith,
said that the influx of child patients was alarming. “We went from single
digits with not really sick kids to 28 kids in a matter of a few weeks, and
some of them are quite sick,” he told NBC.

Meanwhile,
an increase in cases of respiratory syncytial virus, an illness that primarily
affects children with symptoms similar to COVID, has worsened circumstances. Several
hospitals are at 97-98% occupancy, the doctor said.

Hospitalisations
are rising as some children return to school. Texas currently has the highest
number of children hospitalised. Despite this, there has been bitter political
wrangling over mask mandates and vaccinations amid the alarming surge. Texas
has 45% of its population fully vaccinated and is averaging around 15,000
COVID-19 cases a day.

Florida has
the second-highest number of children hospitalised, an average of 188 children
per day. As per latest reports, nearly 44% of Florida’s teenagers are
vaccinated and overall, around half of Florida’s population has been
vaccinated.