x
Breaking News
More () »

Medical experts discuss coronavirus cases in children in the Coastal Bend

Tomorrow, the City-County Health District will be releasing additional numbers involving young people.

NUECES COUNTY, Texas — There's some disturbing new information from the Centers for Disease Control about the growing number of children across the country who are becoming infected with the coronavirus. They report more than 97,000 children in the U.S. tested positive for the last two weeks of July.

According to a new report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association, researchers found a 40-percent increase in child coronavirus cases in the states and cities that were studied during those two weeks.

Last week, we reported the number of cases of children under the age of 24 months had doubled since March to more than 160 cases. Tomorrow, the City-County Health District will be releasing additional numbers involving young people.

"I'm expecting that my number for COVID cases from 18 years and younger is going to be you know, six, seven, eight hundred number and so we're gonna look at that and report that out tomorrow at city council," Health Director Annette Rodriguez said. 

Rodriguez said the numbers point to more cases among young people. While those statistics are scary, local Infectious Disease Specialist with Driscoll Children's Hospital Dr. Jamie Fergie said it's all relative. 

"It is to be expected that as we're testing many, many more people we're finding some more positives, but what interests me, well, how many children are really getting sick with this?" Dr. Fergie said. 

For a perspective on what he means, Dr. Fergie said one needs to look no further than the number of cases at DCH.

"We actually have very few patients," Dr. Fergie said. "In general, actually this COVID thing have produced a decreasing number in hospitalizations for us. So we are not seeing, and I think this is a critical important thing to many, is we're not seeing large numbers of children coming to the hospital. We are not, that is not happening."

When it comes to going back to school, Dr. Fergie agrees with the Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC that schools can open safely if everyone follows the established safety guidelines. 

"The silver lining on this the measures we take to prevent COVID-19 will prevent also the transmission of influenza," Dr. Fergie said. 

Before You Leave, Check This Out