Coronavirus cases are rising in children
Close-up of elementary student disinfecting hands in the classroom due to COVID-19 pandemic. Protecting children from getting Covid-19 can help everyone in the long run
SAN BENITO AND SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) According to experts, coronavirus cases are rising in children, up to 15% of all cases in the U.S.
Dr. David Ghilarducci, Santa Cruz and San Benito County health official, say there haven't seen a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations in children but are expecting a rise in cases with the beginning of the school year.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, COVID cases in children have been steadily rising since the beginning of July. Since the beginning of the pandemic, children only represented 14.3% of all cases. However, last week, children accounted for 15 percent of all reported weekly covid cases.
A health expert for Santa Cruz and San Benito counties says they haven't seen this trend on the Central Coast.
"We haven't seen that increase yet, especially not in the hospitals, but we do anticipate that that probably will happen as schools open this coming week and later next week," said Dr. David Ghilarducci.
In Northern California, however, COVID cases tell a different story.
"In Northern California, where the rates of COVID are higher and the vaccine rate is lower, that they're seeing a lot more pediatric infections in counties and far north in Northern California," said Dr. Karin Shavelson, Chief Medical Officer of MarinHealth Medical Center.
Right now, Ghilarducci says there are clinical trials for kids as young as 6 months with a possibility for emergency use authorization by the end of the year. One parent from Salinas says his kids are excited to go back to school, the rewards have outweighed the risk since children have normally experienced mild symptoms.
"They did everything online and I was going to continue to do it, but they were so excited about seeing friends and going back," said Tony Hoover, parent.
Ghilarducci says Santa Cruz and San Benito counties currently have no pediatric ICU capabilities.
"Our fingers are crossed that we're not going to have super sick kids that are going to need that level of care but I can see if that does happen, it can quickly overwhelm our health care system," said Ghilarducci.
