MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Doctors in the the Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare system Wednesday laid out two troubling facts.
The system not only set a new record of COVID-19 patients, more children are getting infected in the latest surge of local cases.
"There have been concerns about an increase in positive cases in children - this is a true statement," Le Bonheur Children's Hospital Dr. Nick Hysmith said.
Wednesday, Dr. Hysmith confirmed what Shelby County health experts noted Tuesday: there's an uptick of school age children testing positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks.
"I think we just need to brace ourselves for that and stay vigilant," Dr. Hysmith said.
He said the good news is nearly all children who get infected show mild symptoms and don't need to go to the hospital.
Dr. Hysmith added a vast majority of the infections are also not directly linked to the classroom - but outside of it.
"I think everyone that we have been able to track and the school systems have been able to track back, has been sort of these extracurricular activities that might be happening outside the schools," Dr. Hysmith said.
That's why the Le Bonheur doctor offered a clear message to parents whose children are involved in things like sports or band amid the fall COVID surge.
"This trajectory that we are on, personally I feel like that we need try to limit those extracurricular activities unless they are done with spacing done as much as possible," Dr. Hysmith said.
The Methodist system - which Le Bonheur is part of - set a new record of COVID-19 patients Wednesday with 155, surpassing last week's previous high of 155.
Those with Methodist continue to review surge capacity plans and work with sister hospitals to transfer patients to free up space if needed.
