:strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/d1vhqlrjc8h82r.cloudfront.net/07-27-2020/t_bb8023645fe247cbb73219f009de0063_name_image.jpg)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The number of new cases of COVID-19 in children, along with hospitalizations, has increased over the past week across the state.
This occurs when Florida schools are preparing to return to school under an emergency order to reopen school buildings and allow students to attend classes in person five days a week.
On July 16, the state had a total of 23,170 children ages 17 and under who had tested positive since the start of the pandemic, according to the Florida Department of Health. By July 24, that number increased to 31,150. That’s a 34% increase in new cases among children in eight days, CNN reported.
And more children in Florida require hospitalization. As of July 16, 246 children had been hospitalized with coronavirus. By July 24, that number had increased to 303. That’s a 23% increase in Covid-19 children’s hospitalizations in eight days.
During that same period, the death toll among children in Florida increased from 4 to 5 after the death of Kimora “Kimmie” Lynum, a Putnam County girl who died of complications due to COVID-19 and was in no condition. pre-existing health, according to family. Lynum was the youngest person in the state whose death has been linked to COVID-19.
The increase in hospitalizations and cases comes as Jacksonville area schools implement school reopening plans, plans that have been met with protests from parents and teachers.
The Duval County School District was one of at least three school districts in the state that have chosen not to follow the Florida Department of Education emergency order.
The superintendent said Thursday, even though the Republican National Convention was no longer in Jacksonville, the number of cases in the county deserved a gradual approach to reopening schools.
In Jacksonville, where teachers protest the school district’s decision to return to face-to-face instruction for part of the school week, cases of coronavirus among children have increased 62% in the past two weeks.
“I think the data speaks for itself. Yes, hospitalization has increased, ”said Mobeen Rathore, a pediatric infectious disease specialist from Jacksonville. “This is an equal opportunity virus. He doesn’t care about age. “
Rathore said there is a misconception that children can’t get the virus, but it’s true that children often don’t get sick as much as adults.
“That doesn’t mean they don’t get sick. Children get very sick. Children even die from COVID-19. Another part of what we will see, can be seen 4 to 6 weeks after infection, that is, MSIC disease. In which case, the children will become seriously ill, ”he added.
The new data is released as school districts across the state grapple with how to follow an emergency order that could put school funds at risk if districts don’t reopen for face-to-face instruction.
In Duval County, the district is launching a hybrid approach to reopening, offering students the opportunity to return to the classroom for part of the week and receive virtual instruction on other days.
Dr. Rathore said that the increase in cases does not necessarily mean that virtual school is the best option for all families.
“We need to change our lexicon. There is no such thing as safe, “she said. “A car is not safe, but it is making it safer by wearing a seat belt.”
Cases in Duval County children age 17 and younger increased approximately 21% in the past week.
The new cases directly contradict claims by US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos that children are “brakes on the disease” that “they don’t get it and pass it on themselves.”
Meanwhile, researchers in South Korea found that young people ages 10 to 19 transmit the virus as easily as adults.
Already more than 23,000 students in Duval County have selected the online distance learning option and more than 1,000 have chosen the virtual school. That still leaves another 83% of students who have not chosen a path or plan to return to a physical school building in the fall.
The number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Florida exceeded 6,000 on Monday, with more than a third of those occurring during a spike that started about a month ago. While deaths continue to rise, the daily increase in cases was the lowest in weeks.
The state health department reported another 76 deaths on Monday, bringing the number of people in Florida who have died of coronavirus since early March to 6,048. About 2,400 of them have died since the beginning of July.
Four of the deaths reported in the last 24 hours occurred in Duval County, aged 74 to 91, with a total of 143. There were two additional deaths in St. Johns County, aged 64 and 79, for a total of 21)
CNN contributed to this report.
Copyright 2020 by WJXT News4Jax – All rights reserved.
.
