'Many Schools Haven't Even Opened Yet, But Covid-19 Is Growing Fast Among Kids'

[appalachiablue]

'Many schools haven't even opened yet, but COVID-19 is growing fast among kids.' Daily Kos, Aug. 31, 2020.



Some countries have showed that it’s possible to reopen schools and keep coronavirus infection rates among kids low enough to keep the schools open. In the United States, on the other hand … things are not looking good. Schools haven’t even reopened through the entire country, but COVID-19 rates among kids are rising fast. In fact, infection rates are rising faster among kids & young adults than in the population at large, after low rates among kids in the early months of the pandemic.

“In late May, about 5% of the nation’s cases were documented in minors,” The New York Times reports. “By Aug. 20, that number had risen to more than 9%." (Link below).

Children, especially younger ones, continue to seem less likely to contract COVID-19 than adults. But the number of children confirmed to have the virus has doubled since early July. Kids are less likely to be hospitalized or to die than adults, but “[a]nyone who has been on the front lines of this pandemic in a children’s hospital can tell you we’ve taken care of lots of kids that are very sick,” the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Dr. Sean O’Leary told the Times. “Yes, it’s less severe in children than adults, but it’s not completely benign.”

As with adults, there are racial disparities in coronavirus outcomes, with Black and Latino children more likely to be hospitalized.

In general, kids are getting COVID-19 in places where community spread is high, but that doesn’t mean the virus can’t be transmitted among kids, as at the Georgia sleepaway camp where 76% of kids and staffers tested positive (among those whose test results were available). There were hundreds of cases there, and young kids were infected at a higher rate despite the other research finding younger kids to be less likely to contract the virus.

If the U.S. could drive community spread of the virus down and have aggressive testing and contact tracing, we might be able to safely open schools. That’s not the strategy from Trump, though. His strategy is to pretend this is all going to go away, which is going to have the exact opposite effect—as we already see in the rising rates among kids. ~

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/8/31/1973915/-Many-schools-haven-t-even-opened-yet-but-COVID-19-is-growing-fast-among-kids
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*'U.S. Coronavirus Cases Are Rising Fast Among Children,' NYT, Aug. 31, 2020.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/31/us/coronavirus-cases-children.html

[SheltieLover]

1. 2 days for my local HS's 1st case

Fking idiots.

[appalachiablue]

2. It's horrible and so unfair to the kids, families,

other students and school staff.

There's tons of misinformation out there, esp. about children and Covid, how to keep up with the truth. This is not the way it should be, it's tragic and more evidence of major dysfunction and decline. Hate it.

In the early 2000s, I sensed that I didn't like the 21st c. much & didn't know why. I found out. But, things can always get worse...

[SheltieLover]

3. It is so sad for kids

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. No real surprise, unfortunately.

People are getting careless, complaining they're tired of being locked down or of wearing masks.

This isn't going to go away any time soon.

[BigmanPigman]

5. I believe Bill Gates when he says

Covid will likely last through 2021 and end by beginning of 2022. That seems like a realistic assessment to me.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. I've been saying this for a while.

Pretend it's 1939 and you and I are planning a trip to Europe next year. We've been saving and planning for some time now and are really looking forward to it. We'll visit London, Paris, Rome, Venice, some other places.

Then September rolls around and WWII starts. Ah, crap! No trip to Europe next year. Maybe the war won't last very long and we can go in 1941 instead. Well, the war there goes on and on and doesn't end until May of 1945. The soonest we'll be taking that long-postponed trip will be 1946, maybe a year or more later. And when we finally get to go, the Europe we'll see is profoundly changed from the one we'd have seen had we gone in 1939.

It's going to be like that with this pandemic. It's going to last much longer than anyone expects, and a lot of things will be profoundly different.

[BigmanPigman]

7. It will make changes that most people can't even

imagine at this time. All sorts of things will be different, a lot of them major and a lot will be minor, some good and some not so good, both permanent and temporary. Adaption will be the word used for years and years, like with Climate Change.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. Exactly.

Our world, will be transformed.