The Number Of Covid-19 Instances In The US Has Reached 40 Million

According to statistics published Tuesday by the American Academy of Pediatrics, children now account for more than a quarter, or 26.8 percent, of all weekly Covid-19 cases in the United States (AAP). The announcement comes at a time when schools throughout the United States have begun or are about to begin their semesters. According to experts, adults are being urged to be vaccinated to safeguard small children returning to school.

The Number Of Covid-19 Instances In The US Has Reached 40 Million

There have been 251,781 child instances of Covid-19 recorded in the last week, as per the CDC (August 26-September 2). That figure represents over a quarter of the total of 939,470 instances recorded throughout the course of that time.

Children accounted for about 22 percent of the weekly reported cases in each of the preceding two weeks. The definition of a kid varies from state to state, but in general, it covers individuals under the age of seventeen or eighteen.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, despite the worrisome increase of instances, it seems that serious sickness caused by Covid-19 is rare among children at this time. Since the beginning of the epidemic, moreover, 5 million children have come back positive for Covid-19, accounting for 15.1 percent of all cases in the United States to this date.

Meanwhile, CDC reported that the number of cases of an uncommon complication associated with Covid-19 in children, known as multisystem inflammation syndrome or MIS-C, has increased. MIS-C is an uncommon disease that often manifests itself a few weeks after a kid has been infected with Covid-19. Many MIS-C cases are the result of a Covid-19 infection that showed no signs or symptoms.

According to CDC, the number of confirmed cases increased by 6 percent from late July to August 22. As of August 22, 41 kids have died as a result of MIS-C, representing a more than 10% rise in fatalities from the previous month and one of the biggest increases in deaths this year.

Many children return to school without the benefit of school nurses.

Due to the fact that about one-quarter of schools to which children are returning does not have a school nurse, the issue of rising child Covid instances is made much more problematic than it already is. According to CDC, schools should have 1 full-time nurse for each and every 750 pupils.

The most recent statistics from a nationwide school nurse workforce survey, published in the Journal of School Nursing in 2018, show that around 39% percent of schools employ full-time nurses, 35% percent employ part-time school nurses, and 25% do not hire any school nurses at all.

Experts point out that the country has been suffering from a lack of school nurses for many years, but the epidemic has brought the severity of the issue into the open once again.

According to a study published in the Journal of School Nursing in 2018, schools in rural locations seem to be “much more likely” than schools in metropolitan areas to report having no nurse on staff at all. Rural schools reported having no nurse in that survey, whereas urban schools reported having no nurse at all, a difference of 23.5 percent.