Delta variant increases number of children hospitalized in Kansas City ahead of new school year | KCUR 89.3

The Kansas City area is seeing an increase in the number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 as local school districts prepare to return to campus this month.

Children’s Mercy Hospital reached a record 22 COVID patients on Monday, surpassing the highs reached last winter. That number had fallen to 11 patients on Tuesday, but doctors warned that doesn’t mean cases are trending down further.

Dr Angela Myers, director of the hospital’s pediatric infectious disease division, said they are also seeing an increase in the number of patients admitted with childhood illnesses such as respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, a form of the common cold. .

This virus is usually only seen in winter, but the hospital currently has 41 children admitted with RSV.

“We didn’t see any RSVs for over a year because the kids were at home, they were quarantined or they masked themselves when they got out,” Myers said. “Now we are seeing an increase in the number of viruses when people are not masked and people congregate in a population of children who have no pre-existing immunity.”

Local counties see more COVID infections in the younger population as the delta variant continues to increase in the region. Myers said the increase was due to the highly contagious nature of the variant and the fact that children under 12 were not eligible for vaccinations.

In order to protect the young children of the region, many local school districts have adopted masks policies before students return to campus. Myers said these policy changes will help keep children in the classroom.

“We had kids in and out of school throughout the school year last year. We know the best place for kids is to go to school every day and the best way to keep them there is to protect them from illness in the first place, ”Myers said.

School districts vote to disguise themselves

The unified government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas passed a mask ordinance last week, but excluded public and private schools and the towns of Edwardsville and Bonner Springs. So far, Kansas City, Kansas, public schools, and the Piper School District are the only education systems in the county that require masks.

Juliann Van Liew, director of the Wyandotte County health department, said she was concerned that warrantless county school districts could become “hot boxes” for the infection.

“We can’t think of schools as being in a silo. They are part of the network and ecosystems of our communities, and we need to take seriously that what happens there affects the rest of us, ”Van Liew said during the morning system briefing. University of Kansas Health Tuesday. .

Dr Rex Archer, former director of the Kansas City health department, said he anticipates “a real problem” in the fall if schools do not mandate universal masks. He said during the briefing that many school systems were under pressure from a small number of “misinformed parents” not to implement mask warrants.

Archer said the mandate would help keep schools open, which he said is important for children who struggle to learn virtually.

“Do I like to wear a mask? No, but you do it to protect others and sometimes to protect yourself. The big message here is that our children deserve to have a year where they can truly come in and learn, and we need to do everything we can to help them, ”said Archer.

Social media myths

Archer said he blamed social media for spreading “myths” and contributing to misinformation about masking and vaccinations. He recommended that people seek out reliable scientific sources such as the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Van Liew said one of the biggest myths she hears is that COVID doesn’t affect children, even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 349 children under the age of 17 had died from COVID-19 as of August 4.

Myers said that even though children are less likely to get serious infections than adults, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

“We had 22 children in hospital yesterday with COVID infection; we have 11 today. Obviously, children are getting sick with COVID. Obviously, they get sick enough to require hospitalization, ”Myers said.

Beyond masking, Myers recommended that parents perform daily screenings of their children for symptoms before sending them to school. She also recommended that parents “cocoon” around their children, making sure everyone around them is vaccinated.