By Phil McCausland - NBC News
As the momentum for vaccination weakens and the new delta variant spreads,
rates of COVID-19 infection among children have increased and children's hospitals are seeing increased healthcare needs among young patients.
The COVID-19 rebound adds to an unusual spike in respiratory illnesses among children, typically only seen in winter.
This has further reduced the number of beds in children's hospitals and increased the relentless demand for doctors and nurses.
"
It's scary, especially for kids who don't fully understand what's going on.
They need air, they struggle to breathe, and it's just terrifying," said Kelechi Iheagwara, medical director of the pediatric intensive care unit at Our Lady Children's Hospital. of the Lake in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
"There is the disease, the fear, they cannot breathe, they are isolated ... that is difficult for anyone to understand, but can you imagine what it is for a child?"
They report more than 70,000 cases of children infected with COVID-19 in the last week
Aug. 3, 202100: 29
In recent weeks, his hospital has treated COVID-19 cases in children between the ages of 3 weeks and 17 years.
Iheagawara said that in the last month, his unit has had to treat 25 or 26 patients in a space designed for 20. And things are getting worse.
Several doctors from the half a dozen children's hospitals contacted by NBC News, the sister network of Noticias Telemundo, said they have seen children infected because a family member,
often a parent, brings the coronavirus home
.
This is often because an adult in the household is not vaccinated.
[Follow our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic]
"Absolutely, infections in family spaces are the beginning of this pandemic, it is a major driving force in the spread of infections. We see it often within homes, from parent to child," said Jim Versalovic, chief pathologist and pediatrician. Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.
"
We have seen siblings - more than two at times - with an infection at the same time, so spread within homes is certainly a very real phenomenon
," he added.
The COVID-19 spike hit the Baton Rouge children's hospital in mid-July, bringing its monthly total to 75 cases, the highest number of coronavirus hospitalizations during the entire pandemic.
With 27 children admitted to the ER in the first four days of August, the hospital has already seen more hospitalizations of children than in the entire month of June.
Along with the surge in off-season virus infections this summer, the hospital has been at capacity for weeks and the number of COVID-19 cases among children is projected to increase over the next two to three months.
This remains of particular concern because
children under the age of 12 remain the most vulnerable to COVID-19, as they cannot yet be vaccinated
.
"We are also a trauma center, so we have to be available for children who are in car accidents and things like that," said Trey Dunbar, president of Our Lady of the Lake Hospital.
"My fear is that with our staff shortage, if this increase continues, how are we going to continue to care for the children for whom we need to have beds?"
Wearing masks to prevent COVID-19, elementary school children walk to class to start the school year in Godley, Texas, on August 5, 2020. LM Otero / AP
Children's hospitals in areas where there has been an increase in COVID-19 cases are experiencing the same pattern, with
more and more children arriving with COVID-19 symptoms just before the start of the school year.
The shortage of beds and the overload of doctors and nurses in children's hospitals are becoming commonplace.
Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock had 23 patients under the age of 18 admitted into its system last week.
Of these, 10 were in the ICU and five were on respirators.
St. Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri received 13 children in the ER for COVID-19 in the last week of July, then received 20 needing beds in the first week of August.
At Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, COVID-19 positivity rates have risen from about 3% to more than 10% among children.
The number of children hospitalized was in the single digits several weeks ago, but rose to more than 30 last week.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said Friday there are 13 children hospitalized with COVID-19 at Children's Hospital in New Orleans, including six under the age of two.
Four children are in the ICU, including a three-month-old boy, a 23-month-old girl, an 8-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy.
"Louisiana children have died from COVID-19, and unfortunately more will die," said John Vanchiere, a pediatric infectious disease specialist, while joining Bel Edwards at a news conference last week.
"This is not the time to get involved in politics, to fight or to threaten lawsuits over masks. Masks save lives. And if you are a pro-life Louisiana resident like me, wear your mask," he added.
At least 81 children died from COVID-19 between March and July in the United States
, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with many doctors warning that the situation is likely to get worse.
However, local reactions to these rising numbers are mixed.
The governors of Texas and Florida, both Republicans, have refused to change course in their opposition to the use of masks and any other precautions, even after the president, Joe Biden, implored them to "please help" or " get out of the way. "
Studies of COVID-19 Vaccines for Children 5-11 Years Old Expand
July 26, 202100: 24
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 surge and the consequent hospitalization rate have grown so high in Arkansas that the governor, Republican Asa Hutchinson, recently advocated for a mask-wearing mandate in that state's schools.
This comes months after he signed a bill banning state and local mask mandates.
Doctors and experts said that children who returned to school last year did so successfully because precautions were taken against COVID-19.
But when the CDC and state and local governments relaxed their guidelines this year, many of those protections evaporated.
"This new variant is an important factor, but a bigger problem is that people's behavior has changed," said Gigi Gronvall, an academic at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Center for Health Security.
"I don't think we can exempt people and leaders from responsibility for this because that excuses them," he added,
"the reason children are getting infected is because we don't have those precautions and parents and households are getting infected. infecting
".
Many of the doctors interviewed expressed frustration that large numbers of people in their community remain unvaccinated and are even openly hostile to the measure.
This is having a negative effect on morale, many said, especially as work picks up once again.
Kelechi Iheagwara, Medical Director of Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital.
Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital.
"When I say they're tired, they're beyond that. They're like, 'I'm not giving anymore," said Jason Newland, a Washington University infectious disease physician at St. Louis Children's Hospital.
"People say they just don't want to keep doing it, so the capacity of beds is increasingly limited. Hospital administrators are trying to solve this staff shortage - hats off to them - but these conversations are difficult because it is about the children and these families that need to be cared for, "he added.
Children under 12 years of age are especially in need of such care, as they are the only group that continues to be vaccinated
.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not issued an emergency authorization for them to receive the vaccine, raising concerns as many children are scheduled to start school in the coming weeks.
Vaccination levels against COVID-19 increase among Latinos
Aug. 6, 202100: 21
Versalovic, whose Texas hospital is participating in trials of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine for children under 12, said they don't plan to send their data to the FDA until long after the start of the school year.
"Hopefully, there will be an emergency clearance soon after we release the data, but we have to face the reality of starting the school year without it," he said.
"
We anticipate having vaccines available for children during the first half of the school year, but for children under the age of five this is likely to happen later in the year,
possibly early 2022. It will be an ongoing effort," he added .
This is difficult for many to hear, even in places where COVID-19 outbreaks have not increased recently.
In areas where there is only a moderate increase in cases, children's hospitals remain concerned about the fight against the rise in respiratory viruses, as they face the impending school year and a large population that remains unvaccinated.
Cameron Mantor, medical director of Oklahoma Children's Hospital in Oklahoma, said they are dealing with a number of children in hospital beds affected by respiratory illnesses normally seen in winter, as well as an exhausted staff.
An increase in COVID-19 cases, like the one they have seen this year or the one the northeast part of the state is fighting now, could overwhelm them.
"
Our challenge is to figure out how not to go back to the situation that we had months ago
," he said: "The big question is: how do we get all these people vaccinated? How do we let them know that (the vaccine) is safe and very effective? How do we dispel all myths? "
