MEMPHIS, Tennessee — With COVID-19 cases on the rise, doctors fear the spread could worsen as kids head back to class. Doctors and nurses at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital are seeing new COVID-19 cases almost every day.
“We’re 18 months into this. We're seeing severe illness in children,” said Dr. Nicholas Hysmith, Medical Director, Infection Prevention at the hospital. “We're seeing kids die.”
According to Hysmith, in the last two weeks, dozens of children were rushed to the emergency room or the intensive care unit.
“They're coming in with respiratory distress, having trouble breathing, coughing, needing oxygen,” said Hysmith. “The Delta variant is more infectious. We know it's causing severe symptoms, and it looks like it's causing severe symptoms in our children.”
On Wednesday, about 240 patients were seen at the hospital. According to Hysmith, about 30% of them tested positive for COVID-19. Most of the children were ages 11 to 18.
“We have seen kids on ventilators in the last week,” said Hysmith. “That’s a change.”
Meantime, students all across the Mid-South are heading back to class. Tennessee’s largest school district, Shelby County, heads back next week.
“What we’re trying to avoid here is what's happening right now, in Marion, Arkansas,” said Hysmith.
Only halfway through the second week of school, the Marion School District had more than 800 students and 10 staff members in quarantine.
Shelby County and Oxford are two of the only Memphis area school districts with mask requirements. With or without one, doctors say there are several effective ways to keep your kids safe in school.
“Just because there's not a mask mandate doesn't mean we can't wear masks,” said Hysmith. “I would really urge them to do that.”
The CDC has a back to school checklist for in-person learning. It includes creating a new before school routine, that includes packing hand sanitizers and extra masks.
Students also, shouldn’t share school supplies with other kids, and keep their distance from others.
“Not necessarily having to space six feet,” said Hysmith. “You can move that down to three feet, if the kids have masks on.”
The best form of protection, according to doctors, is the vaccine.
“That's the biggest thing that you can do right now. If you’re 12 or older, please vaccinate,” said Hysmith.