According to data recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reports of COVID-19 in emergency room visits among adolescents have nearly doubled in the past week, reaching levels not seen in a year. The CDC data, published on Thursday, shows that the weekly average of COVID-19 ER visits among children aged 12 to 15 years old has accelerated to 2.43% as of August 21. This is an increase from 1.33% the previous week and now exceeds the rates seen in most other age groups, except for the youngest and oldest Americans.
Interestingly, during the previous winter wave of the pandemic, ER visits from 12 to 15 year olds were among the lowest compared to other age groups. It has been a year since ER visits in this age group surpassed those of other age groups, coinciding with a large wave of infections that strained hospitals.
This increase in COVID-19 ER visits among adolescents comes at a time when schools and businesses are considering a return to masks and other precautions to combat the virus. There has been a weeks-long rise in new COVID-19 hospitalizations nationwide, and projections indicate this trend will continue. Additionally, health officials are now monitoring a new highly-mutated COVID-19 variant called BA.2.86, which experts believe could contribute to further spread of the virus.
As of now, approximately 10 million Americans are living in communities that the CDC deems to have “medium” COVID-19 levels, prompting consideration of reinstating masking and other precautions for at-risk individuals. While not all ER visits result in hospital admissions for COVID-19, officials view this metric as an early indicator of virus spread, especially given the unreliability of official case counts as a measure of infections.
COVID-19 ER visits appear to be most prevalent in the Southeastern region of the United States, where the virus accounts for 4.46% of visits among adolescents, higher than any other age group in the region. This region, which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, has also reported earlier and steeper increases in COVID-19 hospital admissions compared to other parts of the country.
In summary, the recent CDC data emphasizes the concerning rise in COVID-19 ER visits among adolescents. This underscores the need for continued vigilance and adherence to preventive measures to curb the spread of the virus and protect public health.
[Source: Alexander Tin, CBS News reporter covering public health and the pandemic]
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