CNN reported that Covid-19 cases in children are up 32% from two weeks ago, according to new numbers published November 22, 2021 by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). For the week ending November 18, 2021 there were at least 141,905 new cases among children, with children making up a disproportionate share of the cases, representing more than a quarter of all new Covid-19 cases for the past week.
Early in the pandemic, kids accounted for fewer than 3% of confirmed cases. That is because parents helped to keep them at home, socially isolated. Now parents are glad to have the kids out from underfoot and back in school. Some schools are trying to keep the kids protected with masks and some form of social distancing, but some state governors are doing everything in there power to keep the kids unmasked so the virus can spread unchecked.
Cases have dropped since a horrific summer surge in the south, but now the cases are rising again as winter sets in. The number of children with Covid-19 is still considered “extremely high,” the AAP report said. This marks the 15th week in a row that child Covid-19 cases are higher than 100,000. But 939 children have died from Covid-19 in the United States since the start of the pandemic, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Children ages 5 and older are now eligible to get Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. A study conducted by Pfizer showed that its vaccine efficacy was more than 90% against symptomatic disease. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that two-thirds of parents want to wait and see, or are refusing to vaccinate their children. Misinformation, mistrust and insanity are resulting in plenty of children that the virus can burn through. Those kids return home and infect the parents and grand parents and the dynamic dance of death continues.