People born in the 1980s and 1990s are filling hospitals across the US as the COVID-19 Delta variant surges.
According to CDC data, between August 2020 and last Wednesday (August 11) a total of 170,852 people in their 30s were admitted to the hospital with COVID-19. The number of daily admissions among this age group jumped 22.6% just this year between the weeks starting with July 29 to August 5, rising from 908 to 1,113. Officials warn the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations among the 30-somethings is only going up.
American children are also being admitted to the hospital at higher rates, reaching a record 1,902 hospitalizations over the weekend, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services. At the moment, kids make up 2.4% of all COVID-19 hospitalizations in the country.
“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 The Huffington Post. Thousands of kids have already been quarantined due to COVID outbreaks in schools that returned to in-person learning.
Despite the surge in cases and growing number of hospitalized children, Republican governors are refusing to implement mask mandates in schools, many state leaders banning local authorities from making such policies.
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