US records high number of new vaccinations on average as pediatric COVID cases rise

Pediatric hospitals fill with children in latest wave of COVID.

Tennessee children’s hospitals will be fully full by the end of this week, the Ministry of Health has planned, and the number of children admitted to a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida in July was more than four times the number admitted in June.

In Austin, Texas, children with symptomatic COVID-19 also arrive sicker, with more severe symptoms than previous waves of the disease.

“This shouldn’t be happening,” said Dr Meena Iyer, chief medical officer at Dell Children’s Medical Center in central Texas.

Schools allow students – some without mask, others not – back to class in person as fall approaches. Some close as soon as they open their doors.

A Mississippi district reported 114 students positive for COVID-19 for the week of July 24-30 and 608 students in quarantine, push two high schools and one college to virtual learning until August 16. Children in a preschool class in Georgia were sent home the following Thursday possible contact with someone at school who had tested positive.

Another school in Tennessee has delayed the start date of the school year by a week due to a number of COVID-19 cases among staff.

Meanwhile, White House COVID-19 director of COVID-19 data Cyrus Shahpar said on Twitter on Saturday that the current 7-day average of new vaccinations, 481,000, is the highest since June 18. Sunday, Shahpar reported 520,000 new vaccines, which means the United States reports 71% of adults who have received at least one dose.

“Getting a first dose now will mean full protection by early fall,” he wrote. “Let’s continue the upward trend in vaccinations this week!

Also in the news:

â–ºFrom Monday, Amazon will require all of its 900,000 U.S. warehouse workers to wear masks indoors, regardless of their immunization status.

â–ºWith the increase in the number of new cases of COVID-19 in Louisiana, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival will not return this year, organizers announced on Sunday.

â–º Saudi Arabia says it is giving half a million riyals, the equivalent of $ 133,000, to the family of every medical worker who died fighting the coronavirus pandemic in the kingdom.

â–ºArizona health officials reported more than 2,000 additional cases of COVID-19 for the fifth day in a row Sunday as hospitalizations related to the virus continued to rise.

â–º Full approval of vaccines that protect against COVID-19 may not be far off, Dr Anthony Fauci said on Sunday. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned that although the Food and Drug Administration only conducts its own review process, he “hopes” that full approval will come by the end of the year. month.

â–º COVID cases are setting records in Florida and hospitalizations have doubled in the past two weeks, but there is a silver lining for the state. The number of people receiving the first or second vaccine is also increasing: more than 380,000 people received it in the last seven days, compared to 334,000 the previous week.

â–ºCanada will begin to allow fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents cross the border on Monday.

The numbers of the day: The United States has recorded more than 35.7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 616,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Global totals: Over 202.6 million cases and 4.2 million deaths. Over 166 million Americans – 50% of the population – have been fully immunized, According to the CDC.

What we read: Public health experts have told USA TODAY that shaming and blaming the unvaccinated could backfire – entrenching their decision rather than persuading them to get the vaccine. Read the full story.

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Memorials to victims of the COVID-19 pandemic are taking shape across the United States

Temporary memorials have sprung up across the United States – 250,000 white flags at RFK Stadium in the nation’s capital, a hand-carved flower garden in Florida, chains of origami cranes in Los Angeles. The process of creating more lasting memories that honor the more than 600,000 Americans who have died from the coronavirus, however, is onerous compared to past commemorative campaigns because of politics.

Last year, a bill starting a national COVID-19 memorial process died in Congress as the Trump administration sought to lessen the ravages of the pandemic.

Non-pandemic monuments – such as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, the Oklahoma City National Memorial, and the National September 11 Memorial in New York City – are the result of negotiations among various stakeholders ready to push the controversy forward for debate common narratives, said Nancy Bristow, professor of history at the University of Puget Sound.

A national COVID-19 memorial will not be so clear, she said.

“The problem and the strength of memorials is that they tell the story we want to tell, and they may have nothing to do with learning about the past or even remembering the complexity. of what we’ve been through, ”Bristow said. “Commemoration and commemoration are not a question of nuance.”

Doctor searched ‘all the way to Cincinnati’ for care of young COVID patient due to understaffing

Tennessee doctor struggled to find a nearby hospital with specialized care to help a young patient with coronavirus – a candidate for intensive therapy given to COVID-19 patients when a ventilator is not enough.

A machine was available, but the staff needed to deliver the therapy were not. Dr Jason Martin, an intensive care physician at Sumner Regional Medical Center in Gallatin, Tennessee, said he had to search “all the way to Cincinnati” to find a hospital with both the necessary equipment and staff. to help his patient.

“What we feel as practitioners is that there are no beds available, and this manifests itself in a number of ways,” said Martin. “In a community hospital like the one I work in in Sumner County, there are cases where patients need specialized attention and they have to go to a bigger hospital … so these patients are in pain. .

The delta variant is “everywhere,” putting additional pressure on hospitals with small staff, Tennessee Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey said on Aug. 2. Hospitalization levels are approaching those reached in February when the state saw a further increase in COVID-19 cases.

As of Aug. 7, 14% of Tennessee hospital floor beds were available, according to state data, and 10% of intensive care beds were available.

– Cassandra Stephenson, Nashville Tennessee

Arizona mother urges students to wear masks after 5-year-old daughter contracts COVID

Heidi Kim, a mother of two in Arizona, learned that within two weeks of sending her children to school, her 5-year-old daughter tested positive for COVID-19. In the previous school year, the two were homeschooled to protect family members from contracting the virus. Kim and her husband were reluctant to send their kids to school in person, she said “Hello America.”

“I was really nervous about sending them back there, but I had hoped that in September they might be eligible for the vaccine,” Kim said. “I had hoped it would only be the month and a few more weeks depending on the time.”

On June 30, Governor Goud Ducey signed a law banning compulsory masks in Arizona schools, an action underway in seven other states to limit the application of masks in educational institutions.

Kim said that although masks were encouraged, only two other kindergarten children wore masks at school.

“It’s incredibly frustrating because I think schools absolutely should be open. I don’t think people should have to put their lives on hold for a year and a half,” Kim said. “When we look at what public health tells us, you look at the American Academy of Pediatrics, or the CDC, they all say schools should be open. But also people who are not vaccinated should wear a mask.”

-Steven Vargas

Contribution: The Associated Press