More and more children are being infected by Delta mutation in the US, raising parental concern and fueling the political controversy over mask use shortly before the start of the school year.
The outbreak of the pandemic is currently centered in Florida, where some school districts have said they want to defy a state governor’s order banning students from wearing masks in schools.
“Parents are in a desperate situation: they have to choose between the health, life of their children and their return to school”, parents of children with special needs protested in an appeal filed on Friday against the governor’s decision.
The majority of children are infected with coronavirus display orno more symptoms or even at all and so far this part of the population did not worry the experts.
But with the variant Delta strain, which is highly contagious, things are changing. This is largely due to the 72,000 cases of covid-19 recorded in the United States in children and adolescents over the course of a week in late July, according to a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics, a fivefold increase from the end of June.
Of those cases, 20,000 were found in Florida, according to state data, which also records the largest number of juvenile hospitalizations in the country, 143 so far.
“We have no doubt seen an increase in cases here, in emergencies, and in other parts of the hospital in the last two or three weeks,” Marcos Mestre, medical director of a pediatric hospital in Miami, told AFP.
Controversy over masks
Only 1% of children who test positive for covid-19 need to be treated, according to him, with complications being more likely for obese children and those suffering from diabetes.
And although studies have confirmed that the Delta strain is the most contagious to date, it is not yet certain that it causes a more severe form of the disease.
Preliminary data suggest that this may be true for both adults and children, but Rosell Valensky of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says more studies are needed to confirm this.
One thing is clear: in the northwestern United States, where the vaccination rate against covid-19 is higher, there is a lower rate of infection among young people. According to other sources, children are less safe in areas where the rate of vaccinated adults is lower.
With daily deaths exceeding those recorded in last summer’s outbreak, the CDC is now advising students, teachers and school staff to continue wearing a mask, whether vaccinated or not.
But Florida Gov. Ron DeSadis, a Republican, is threatening to cut funding for schools that do not follow his recommendations and resume mask use.
The vaccine solution
Many school districts, including Florida’s second-largest, have said they will defy the governor’s order.
The political controversy has reached the White House, with US President Joe Biden urging hesitant local officials: “If you do not help, at least do not stand in our way.”
The answer did not take long: “If you violate the rights of Florida parents, you will find meeither on your way », stressed Descadis.
According to Dr. Mobin Rathor, a pediatric infectious disease specialist, the risk of infection in minors should also be reduced.
The children “get sick, go to the hospital” and some die from covid-19, said Rathor, who supports the mandatory use of a mask at school.
“Like adults, children need to be vaccinated,” he said.
The Pfizer vaccine has been licensed since May to be given in the US to children as young as 12 years old, but clinical studies for younger ages have not been completed.
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