Pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations in Triangle remain low, despite national trend

"With the spreadability of the Delta variant, it feels like you have less and less control everyday," she said.

Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the rate of pediatric hospital admissions of children is now nearly 4 times higher than it was a month ago.

But there's some good news for Wake County parents. As the nation sees more children hospitalized with COVID-19, only a handful of Wake County kids are being admitted to the hospital.

One out of every five COVID-19 cases reported involves a child in North Carolina. Expert contribute the low number of Triangle children in the hospital to the vaccination rate in the region.

"The Triangle is a pretty well-vaccinated area," said Dr. Michael Smith, professor of pediatrics at Duke University.

"This vaccine is safe and effective and help keeps the whole community safe," he said.

In the Triangle, COVID-19 cases in children have remained steady for about two weeks. To date, there are no pediatric COVID-19 patients in Duke Children’s Hospital.

Two pediatric COVID patients are at WakeMed and four are receiving treatment at UNC Medical Center.

"It does seem to correlate that the overall amount of COVID in a region, it contributes to the overall amount of COVID in all age groups," said Dr. Matt Vogt, pediatric infectious diseases researcher with UNC Health. ​

Phillips said she's been talking honestly with her daughter to make sure she keeps others around her safe.

"With my daughter, she wears her mask even if she’s on the playground, [and] we have that conversation," she said.

The FDA has asked both Pfizer and Moderna to expand trials for 5 to11 year-olds, and they’re hoping to have those vaccines for that age group sometime before the end of the year.