Officials: More than 12,000 in hospitals across US with COVID

While waiting for a vaccine for kids 12 and under, officials say we have the tools to keep our children safe in schools - including masking, proper ventilation, social distancing and hand-washing.

Posted 5:23 p.m. Aug 27, 2021 — Updated 6:44 p.m. Aug 27, 2021

Michelle Mackonochie

, WRAL morning anchor/reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — The White House COVID-19 Response Team provided an update on the state of the pandemic on Friday morning that focused primarily on keeping children safe in schools – with a major push for parents to vaccinate their young ones.

Officials said cases of pediatric COVID have increased over the past few weeks, especially with the rise of the particularly contagious Delta variant. They are seeing around 12,000 people hospitalized with COVID each day.

Children now make up 36% of Tennessee’s reported COVID-19 cases, marking yet another sobering milestone in the state’s battle against the virus, Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey said Wednesday. She said the state had 14,000 pediatric cases in the last seven days — a 57% increase over the previous week.

In South Carolina, students will again be required to wear masks on school buses starting Monday as COVID-19 cases among children and students rise rapidly.

Nearly 30% of new cases in South Carolina in the past two weeks have been in people 20 and under. During the same time in 2020, about 17% of cases were in children and teens, according to state officials.

Anderson Lopez Castillo, a nurse who cares for seriously ill COVID-19 patients at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, said treating people as young as 16 in critical care has become an additional strain on top of a nearly yearlong ordeal that left him questioning his choice of a profession.

With the rise in pediatric cases, alongside the return to school, medical professionals are working hard to develop a vaccine suitable for children within the next six months.

3 things to know about the delta variant and kids

Although there is currently no COVID vaccine approved for kids 12 and under, officials made it clear there were steps schools can take to help protect students.

"The best way to protect them is to get everyone who is eligible vaccinated, and surround children who are not yet vaccine-eligible with people who are vaccinated – to effectively shield them from COVID harm," said Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

She said we have the tools to keep our children safe in schools – including masking, proper ventilation, social distancing and hand-washing. However, she said not all schools are following these guidelines as carefully as they need to in order to keep students safe – and those are the schools where outbreaks are happening, according to Walensky.

Local pediatrician: How to keep students safe with hundreds of COVID cases reported in Wake County classrooms

In Wake County Public Schools, more than 140 cases of COVID-19 were reported in the first two days of class. Over 430 confirmed cases have been reported in Wake schools since the beginning of August. Likewise, local colleges have also been seeing COVID clusters since the beginning of the semester.

Walensky focused on the fact that schools had the proper tools to protect students, but guidelines would need to be very carefully followed – especially as we wait for a children's COVID vaccine.

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