Corona-infected children hospitalized in US in record numbers

The number of children hospitalized across the US with COVID-19 has hit a record high of just over 1,900 as hospitals in southern states were stretched to capacity fighting outbreaks caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant.

The Delta variant, which is rapidly spreading among the mostly unvaccinated sector of the US population, has reportedly caused hospitalizations to spike in recent weeks, driving up the number of pediatric hospitalizations to 1,902 on Saturday, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services.

"This is not last year's COVID. This one is worse and our children are the ones that are going to be affected by it the most," said Sally Goza, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, during an interview with CNN on Saturday.

The numbers of newly hospitalized COVID-19 patients aged 18-29, 30-39 and 40-49 also hit record highs this week, according to data from the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Children currently make up about 2.4 percent of the nation's COVID-19 hospitalizations. Kids under 12 are not eligible to receive the vaccine, leaving them more vulnerable to infection from the new, highly transmissible variant.

A fifth of the nation's COVID-19 hospitalizations are in Florida, where the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients hit a record 16,100 on Saturday, Reuters reported. More than 90 percent of the state's intensive care beds are occupied, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.

New COVID cases in US soar 700% in July

New COVID cases in the United States soar 700 percent week-over-week since July 1.

The US now has an average of nearly 129,000 new COVID-19 cases per day, a rate that has doubled in a little over two weeks, according to reported tallies. The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients is at a six-month high, and an average of 600 people are dying each day of COVID-19, double the death rate seen in late July.

Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oregon have also reported record numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations this month, pushing healthcare systems to operate beyond their capacity.

"Our hospitals are working to maximize their available staff and beds, including the use of conference rooms and cafeterias,” Florida Hospital Association President Mary Mayhew said in a statement on Friday.

COVID-hit Oregon deploys National Guard to hospitals

In Oregon, Governor Kate Brown announced on Friday that she was dispatching 500 National Guard members to assist overwhelmed hospitals, with 1,500 members in total available to help.

Brown further stated that the first group of 500 Guard members will be deployed next Friday to serve as material and equipment runners in the most stricken hospitals and to help with COVID-19 testing, among other things. Troops will be sent to 20 hospitals around Oregon.

“I cannot emphasize enough the seriousness of this crisis for all Oregonians, especially those needing emergency and intensive care,” Brown added, reiterating that message. “When our hospitals are full with COVID-19 patients, there may not be room for someone needing care after a car crash, a heart attack, or other emergency situation.”

In Jackson, Mississippi, federal medical workers are assisting understaffed local teams at a 20-bed triage center in the parking garage of the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) to accommodate the overflow of COVID-19 patients.

Fifteen children and 99 adults were hospitalized with COVID-19 at UMMC as of Saturday morning, the hospital said. More than 77% of those patients were unvaccinated.

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