Florida Has 1,540 New Child Covid Cases a Day As Governor Bans School Masks

Florida's pediatricians are reporting an alarming rise in Covid infections among young children since they are not yet approved to receive vaccines. 

The problem may exacerbate already excessive illness and hospitalization levels in Florida as schools reopen while the state's governor takes politically rather than medically driven stances against masks and distancing. JL 

Sonja Isger reports in the Palm Beach Post:

Florida logged 10,785 new COVID infections among children under 12 between July 24 and 30, or an average of 1,540 new cases each day. That's 54% more than a week before and a more than 600% increase over the same time a month earlier. 11,048 people ages 12 to 19 tested positive for the illness that week. The state averaged 32 pediatric COVID hospitalizations from July 24 to 30.

Pediatricians across Palm Beach County are taking on social media, television and email to warn of a surge in COVID-19 cases among children both locally and across the state. They are concerned not only about the growing number of cases among the young but also about the severity of illness they are witnessing.  

"Locally, we are seeing an alarming rise in children being hospitalized for COVID-19," pediatrician Dr. Tommy Schechtman wrote in a letter Sunday to his practice's 15,000 families. 

COVID in Florida updates:School districts rebel over DeSantis' mask Schechtman said in an interview this week that he was driven to pen the letter by a variety of concerns, including having learned that on one day in the past week, 24 children were admitted to St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach.

In late July Florida averaged 1,540 new COVID cases among children per day.

In his practice of seven pediatricians, Schechtman said, "We have had a sick 3-week-old, and then a 4-month-old. This is not sparing anybody. We've had teenagers in the ICU on a ventilator. We had an otherwise healthy 5-year-old with a whited-out lung – a classic COVID chest X-ray."

The letter went out even as the data bore out Schechtman's fears: The Sunshine State leads the nation when it comes to children hospitalized with COVID.

Florida logged 10,785 new COVID infections among children under 12 between July 24 and 30, or an average of 1,540 new cases each day. That's 54% more than a week before and a more than 600% increase over the same time a month earlier.

Those old enough to be vaccinated also were hard hit. According to the Florida Department of Health, 11,048 people ages 12 to 19 tested positive for the illness that week. New numbers are released weekly on Friday.

'It's a shame to lose a young person': Doctors rail against COVID increase, preventable deaths

While COVID is remains decidedly less lethal for children, they are not completely spared from either severe illness or long-term complications. 

Among their concerns, doctors are on the lookout for multi-system inflammatory syndrome, an autoimmune disease that in children can occur within weeks of infection and if left untreated can be fatal or cause heart damage. 

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state averaged 32 pediatric COVID hospitalizations from July 24 to 30. 

"I hear people say their child can't breathe with a mask on. You can't breath if you have COVID and are on a ventilator. It's a scary thing that we're seeing, and it's all preventable," said Schechtman, a former president of the state chapter for American Academy of Pediatrics whose Pediatric Partners has offices in the county's north end.

'This weekend was the worst. It was more like 40%.'

To the south, doctors of another practice, Palm Beach Pediatrics, reached out to their 20,000 families to say they too were seeing a surge.

After months in which COVID was responsible for only about 5% of the illness among their sick-kid visits, that has skyrocketed in the past two weeks to between 20% and 40%.

In the week ending Aug. 1, the practice reports testing 51 children who came in with the tell-tale signs of a viral infection from fever to vomiting, and 14 tested positive. The week before a dozen proved infected by the coronavirus. That was a leap from a month earlier, when the tests were finding a handful at most and sometimes none at all.

"And we're only testing kids who we think may have it because of symptoms. This weekend was the worst. It was more like 40%. Saturday we had six positive in one office," said Dr. Shannon Fox-Levine of Palm Beach Pediatrics. 

"Our prediction is this is going to continue to spread in the pediatric population," Fox said. 

Health authorities lay most of the blame the delta variant, which has become more prevalent and is proving more contagious than the earlier iterations of the virus. 

"We are seeing the same trends," confirmed Dr. Alina Alonso, director of the state health department's Palm Beach County office. "We do have children in the hospital at this time."

St. Mary's Medical Center declined to specify how many youngsters it is treating other than to confirm that the Palm Beach County hospitals in the Tenet chain are seeing and increase in pediatric COVID patients.

Alonso said she did not have the county's COVID hospitalizations broken down by age, but she said her office is "staying in very close contact with the hospitals."

To keep healthy kids safe, practices limit COVID cases to evening visits 

The news comes a week before the county's public schools kick off the new school year fully in person for the first time in two years, and as the debate about face-mask mandates continues to rage with Gov. Ron DeSantis threatening to clip state funding for any district that deigns to impose one.

Palm Beach County schools will not mandate masks when school opens Tuesday, but Wednesday evening Superintendent Mike Burke updated the district's policy for students and staff to say a mask is "strongly encouraged." 

The pediatric practices, meanwhile, are doubling down on their own COVID prevention protocols and pushing parents and even the school board to do more. 

It's a busy time of year for pediatricians, who must sign off on physicals and non-COVID immunization records for students wishing either to enroll in school or play sports. 

Palm Beach Pediatrics, with offices in West Palm Beach, Loxahatchee and Boynton Beach, is setting separate hours for well visits and saving evening hours for sick visits.

"We were trying to fit the sick appointments in between the well, but we can't do that if you have 40% positive. Those are well kids who will be in school next week," said Fox-Levine, who estimated the practice is seeing about 200 children a day, a majority of those for a pre-school well visit. 

Splitting the day is new, but the staff has taken other precautions all year and they've paid off, keeping its staff clear of the virus, she said. 

The other precautions: Sick kids must stay in their family's car until appointment time. Only one adult goes with them to the exam room. Masks are required in all offices for everyone ages 2 and older, regardless of whether you've been vaccinated. 

"If you refuse to wear a mask, you will be asked to leave, and your appointment will be canceled. We have an obligation to our families to maintain a safe environment, and if you are unwilling to wear a mask, you will not be seen," according to  its Facebook post.

Pediatricians urge all family members who can to be vaccinated

The doctors are urging all family members who can get a vaccine to do so. And when headed to a classroom, they advise everyone wear a mask. 

"All students older than 2 years and all school staff should wear face masks at school," Schechtman wrote in his letter. "Universal masking is a simple measure that will help protect our young children who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as well as those who are immunocompromised."

Schechtman says the children he sees are more at ease with mask wearing and credits role-modeling from the adults in their lives. 

"The last year and a half, we as pediatricians weren't impacted greatly," Schechtman said. "The fact is now it's children and not just teenagers. It's happening, and it's not something we can ignore. The numbers could get worse."

Said Fox-Levine: "Our hope, my hope, is more and more parents are considering immunizing their older children to stop the spread, so we don't have school closures two weeks from now, because that's also not going to be healthy for anybody."