Alarming 94K surge in COVID-19 cases among kids, hospitals overwhelmed

Kids across the country are heading back to school this week amid a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases with hospitals seeing record admissions in their pediatric units.

Public health experts and state officials are raising alarms about a surge in COVID hospitalizations among children -- now at their steepest and seeing the most significant increase since the onset of the pandemic. After declining in the early summer, child COVID-19 cases have steadily increased again in recent weeks -- just as many kids head back to the classroom. In a newly released weekly report, which compiles state-by-state data on COVID-19 cases among children, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association (CHA) found that nearly 94,000 new child COVID-19 cases were reported last week, a continued "substantial" increase. Some of the worst numbers are in Louisiana and Florida but could get worse elsewhere fast as public health officials express concerns with the highly contagious delta variant amid continued vaccine hesitancy.