‘Very sick kids’ as Delta threat looms over US school reopenings

The new infections among children were recorded in seven days leading up to July 29, up from 39,000 the week prior, says study from the American Academy of Paediatrics

‘Very sick kids’ as Delta threat looms over US school reopenings

Until the vaccine, masks are the only armour for kids under 12. Pic/AFP

For anxious parents of school going kids in the US, especially the under 12s, it’s like 2020 all over again. The highly transmissible Delta variant is a huge wild card, Covid-19 cases in children are up 84 per cent in the past week, with 72,000 kids testing positive for the virus, and the battle lines are getting redrawn, once again, between schools, government and communities.

Doctors are raising the alarm. “I will say what I’m hearing from my paediatrician colleagues and particularly in areas where infection rates are high is that they are seeing very sick kids,” Lee Savio Beers, President of the American Academy of Paediatrics, said. The troubling data is coming in as US schools are readying to open their doors for the Fall term.

The US is now averaging over 1,09,000 new daily cases. That’s the highest it’s been since February this year. These numbers are coming on top of robust vaccination numbers: At least 70 per cent of those above 18 have got at least one dose; 60 per cent of adults are fully vaccinated. But nothing has changed for the under-12 cohort. There’s no shot for them yet. Pfizer’s senior vice president of vaccine development said in a video interview that the company is likely to file for an emergency use authorisation for the under-12s only by October.

For a full year ending January 2021, CDC data showed children 15 and under had the lowest infection rates. That has changed now. School-age children between the ages of 5-11 and 12-15 have infection rates higher than adults 50 and older.

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Cambodia has lifted a ban on travellers from India after the latter country witnessed a decline in new Covid-19 cases, Health Minister Mam Bunheng said in a statement. Prime Minister Hun Sen approved the lifting of the ban, Bunheng said, adding that the removal will take effect from Saturday.

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A pledge by China to supply two billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines to other countries this year expands the commitments made by a nation that is already the largest exporter of the shots. He also promised to donate $100 million to COVAX, the programme that aims to distribute vaccines to low-income countries.

20,25,73,486
TOTAL Number OF CORONAVIRUS

CASES IN THE WORLD

42,94,265
Number OF DEATHS WORLDWIDE

18,20,62,496
Number OF RECOVERED PATIENTS

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