Children hospitalized with Covid-19 in US hits record number
Children currently make up about 2.4% of the nation's Covid-19 hospitalizations
The number of children hospitalized with Covid-19 in the United States hit a record high of just over 1,900 on Saturday, as hospitals across the South were stretched to capacity fighting outbreaks caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant.
The Delta variant, which is rapidly spreading among mostly the unvaccinated portion of the US population, has caused hospitalizations to spike in recent weeks, driving up the number of pediatric hospitalizations to 1,902 on Saturday, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Children currently make up about 2.4% of the nation's Covid-19 hospitalizations. Kids under 12 are not eligible to receive the vaccine, leaving them more vulnerable to infection from the new, highly transmissible variant.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
"This is not last year's Covid. This one is worse and our children are the ones that are going to be affected by it the most," Sally Goza, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told CNN on Saturday.
The numbers of newly hospitalized Covid-19 patients aged 18-29, 30-39 and 40-49 also hit record highs this week, according to data from the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
