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(NEW YORK) — Scientists are learning more about how widespread wildfires affect human health — and if there is a link between severe COVID-19 cases and regions that experience fires on a regular basis.
In 2020, a record-breaking fire season in the U.S. saw more than 10.2 million acres scorched in wildfires, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Both California and Oregon had historic wildfire seasons, and several small towns were destroyed in California, Oregon and Washington, according to NOAA. The dense smoke from the wildfires produced hazardous air quality for millions of people in the U.S. for weeks, the agency said.
Increases in the fine particulate matter from the wildfire smoke, the pollutant in smoke that poses the greatestrisk to health, were associated with spikes in severe COVID-19 cases and deaths in many counties in three West Coast states in 2020, according to a study published Friday in Sciences Advances.
Researchers studied COVID cases in 92 counties California, Oregon and Washington — all states that host annual wildfires during the dry season — ranging from mid-March to mid-December, Francesca Dominici, professor of biostatistics at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public health and author of the study, told ABC News.
They found that wildfires had the largest potential effect on COVID-19 cases in the counties of Butte, California, and Whitman, Washington, where 17.3% and 18.2% of total cases, respectively, were attributable to high particulate matter levels on wildfire days, according to the study.
Wildfires had the greatest potential influence on COVID-19 deaths in Butte and Calaveras counties in California, scientists said. The COVID cases analyzed were based on reported tests, which covers more than 95% of the population in the three states, according to the study.
The effects on COVID cases from the wildfire smoke were observed up to four weeks after the exposure to the particulate matter, the researchers said.
“This is really attributable to the wildfire events, which is concerning us,” Dominici said, adding that they “keep coming” as a result of climate change.
While recent studies had reported that short-term exposure to particulate matter associated with increased risk of COVID-19 cases and deaths, the degree of how much the 2020 wildfire season exacerbated the severity of the pandemic had not been clear, the researchers said.
Dominici said she was “surprised” about the findings, adding that the research suggests an association between wildfire emissions and asymptomatic cases becoming symptomatic and an association between fine particulate matter accelerating spread of the airborne virus.
The scientists believe the research will likely apply to the 2021 fire season, which is already on track to break more records due to an early start caused by a megadrought and climate change.
“Especially for the unvaccinated,” Dominici said. “I think the vaccinated people will be more protected this year for having less severe cases.”
Dominici continued, “If I were to conduct the the same study among the unvaccinated, I think the results would probably be the same, if not even worse, as we have been learning that the delta variant is even more contagious.”
(ATLANTA) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officially recommended a third dose of an mRNA vaccine for immunocompromised Americans on Friday afternoon, allowing around 7 million Americans who didn’t get an optimal immune response to their initial vaccine doses of Pfizer or Moderna to gain more protection.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on the recommendation after a CDC panel voted Friday morning on the specifics of who should get an additional shot and when. The CDC approval was the final step in the process initiated by the Food and Drug Administration’s announcement late on Thursday night that immunocompromised Americans will be able to get a third shot.
“Today, I signed CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) recommendation that endorsed the use of an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine for people with moderately to severely compromised immune systems after an initial two-dose vaccine series,” Walensky said in a statement.
She called the recommendation “an important step in ensuring everyone, including those most vulnerable to COVID-19, can get as much protection as possible from COVID-19 vaccination.”
The additional dose will specifically be targeted at cancer patients, transplant recipients, people with HIV and people on immunosuppressant drugs, plus a range of other conditions that similarly left vaccinated people with less immunity than expected.
Instead of the more than 90% protection from the vaccines that’s normally found in healthy people, vaccine effectiveness in immunocompromised people can be as low as 59% to 72%, the CDC said.
Some immunocompromised people even had no immune response to the vaccines — a disappointment considering the high risk they have for getting severely ill from the virus.
For example, in one U.S. study, 44% of breakthrough cases that led to hospitalization were in immunocompromised people. An Israeli study found it was around 40%.
But the CDC data shows that a booster shot could increase antibodies in an immunocompromised person by up to 50%.
“COVID-19 disease in immunocompromised people is an important public health problem. The anticipated desirable effects of an additional dose of mRNA vaccine are large, and undesirable effects expected to be minimal, favoring the intervention,” Dr. Kathleen Dooling, a medical officer at the CDC, said at the meeting on Friday.
The CDC estimated about 7 million people, or 2.7% of the population, fit into the category of moderate or severely immunocompromised. But there is no plan to require people to prove their conditions before receiving a third shot, either by prescription or a doctor’s note — it will be a matter of “self-attesting.”
CDC officials suggested that the third shot should come at least 28 days after finishing the primary two-dose series and recommend that people stick with the same vaccine they initially got, be it Pfizer or Moderna, though swapping the vaccines in instances where there isn’t ample supply is “permitted.”
Immunocompromised people who got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are not yet eligible for additional shots, but the CDC and FDA said they’re doing research and hope to provide more guidance soon.
The CDC also assumes the vast majority of immunocompromised people got mRNA vaccines because only 12 million people nationwide have gotten the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, while 149 million have gotten Pfizer or Moderna shots.
“We think that at least there was a solution here for the very large majority of immunocompromised individuals and we believe that we’ll probably have a solution for the remainder in the not too distant future,” Dr. Peter Marks, vaccine chief for the FDA, said at the meeting.
Experts and officials have been clear that this third shot for immunocompromised people is separate from booster shots for the general public, which people are expected to need as the protection from the vaccines wane over time. But the FDA and CDC, which are monitoring immunity in multiple groups of people across the country, said the U.S. isn’t there yet.
“As we’ve previously stated, other individuals who are fully vaccinated are adequately protected and do not need an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine at this time,” acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said in a statement Thursday. “The FDA is actively engaged in a science-based, rigorous process with our federal partners to consider whether an additional dose may be needed in the future.”
(NEW YORK) — With the CDC estimating that the delta variant accounts for more than 90% of new COVID cases in the U.S., scientists are still learning more about what makes this variant different from prior versions of the virus.
There are dozens of COVID-19 variants. Some emerge and quickly fade away. Others emerge and sweep the globe. The delta variant first emerged in India in December 2020 and quickly became the dominant strain there and then in the United Kingdom.
It was first detected in the United States in March 2021 and proved so dominant it supplanted the prior strain, called the alpha variant, within a few short weeks.
Now, experts say there’s good news and bad news when it comes to this new variant.
Here’s what we know now:
1. The delta variant is more contagious than earlier strains of COVID
Delta is more contagious because it “sheds more virus into the air, making it easier to reach other people,” said Dr. Loren Miller, associate chief of infectious disease at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Researcher at Lundquist Institute in Torrance, CA .
“There is also some evidence that the virus can more easily attach to human cells in the respiratory tract,” Miller said. This means that “smaller amounts of virus [particles] are needed to cause infection compared to the original strain.”
2. It could cause more serious illness in unvaccinated persons, but scientists don’t know for sure.
Scientists are racing to study the severity of the delta variant in real time. Until more studies are verified by a panel of scientific experts or gain “peer-approval,” public health officials cannot definitively say for sure that it does cause more serious illness.
Here is what we know so far:
One peer-reviewed study in Scotland looked at over 19,000 confirmed COVID cases between April to June 2021. Scientists were able to differentiate between the delta variant and the alpha variant by molecular testing for one of multiple mutated genes known as the S gene.
About 7,800 COVID cases and 130 hospitalized patients had the delta strain confirmed by presence of the gene. Scientists noted that there was an increased risk for hospitalization in patients with delta when adjusting for common factors such as age, sex, underlying health conditions, and time of disease.
Another recent study awaiting peer approval in Singapore, noted that the delta variant was significantly associated with increased need for oxygenation, admission to an intensive care unit, and death when compared to the alpha variant.
Similarly, a Canadian study awaiting peer approval looked at over 200,000 confirmed COVID cases and found that the delta variant was more likely to cause hospitalization, ICU admission and death.
It’s hard to know whether delta is in fact making people sicker or if it is just affecting more vulnerable, unvaccinated populations with high case numbers and overburdened healthcare systems.
3. Delta is now the dominant variant in the US and around the globe.
COVID cases are skyrocketing again in the U.S., particularly where vaccination uptake has been particularly slow.
According to the CDC, more than 90% of COVID cases in the U.S. are currently caused by the delta variant. We know that “there is a lot of Delta out there … from the public health authorities who regularly survey for delta [and other strains] using special tests called molecular typing” said Miller.
4. COVID vaccines still work against the delta variant.
The “majority of currently hospitalized COVID patients are unvaccinated,” said Dr. Abir “Abby” Hussein, clinical infectious disease assistant professor and associate medical director for infection prevention and control at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Wash.
Studies show that vaccines still dramatically reduce the risk of hospitalization and death, though the delta variant may be more likely than prior variants to cause asymptomatic or mild illness among vaccinated people.
Still, even amid the delta surge, this is still a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
Although there are rare cases of severe breakthrough infections that require hospitalization that can occur in persons with a “weakened immune system,” Miller said. This comes in time for the new guidelines for booster COVID shots in immunocompromised patients.
5. The delta variant surge is hitting younger, unvaccinated people harder
More COVID cases are being reported in teens, young and middle-age adults. That’s not because delta is inherently more dangerous for younger people — but rather, because younger people are less likely to be fully vaccinated.
Hussein explains that this is likely due to early vaccination efforts to vaccinate older high-risk people, particularly those who live in nursing homes. According to the CDC, more than 80% of adults over the age of 65 have been fully vaccinated and more than 90% of adults over 65 have had one dose (of a two-dose vaccine).
“Unfortunately, many younger adults have not been vaccinated, resulting in this shift to younger hospitalized patients,” Hussein said.
Collectively, experts agree that the delta variant poses a new threat. Stopping transmission is the key to controlling all variants, not just delta. The best way for everyone to protect themselves against delta includes tools that are already at our disposal — vaccination, masking, social distance and hand washing.
While we all want to return to a state of normal, Miller said “sticking to these basic messages is a very powerful way to prevent COVID transmission and protect yourself.”
(JACKSON, Miss.) — As Mississippi faces a “skyrocketing” surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations — its highest increase on record — health officials are sounding the alarm about a state hospital system on the brink of collapse.
The University of Mississippi Medical Center, in partnership with state officials, will reopen a surge facility Friday in the medical center’s parking lot, with help from the federal government.
Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and respiratory therapists will be deployed to work at the field hospital for at least the next 14 days.
“Unfortunately, we were standing in a tent again. None of us wanted to come back to this point, but it’s gotten to the point where we’re just not able to care for the patients at UMMC, and in the state of Mississippi, that need the care with COVID,” Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs, said at a press conference on Thursday. “I think when you’re seeing a field hospital at a major academic medical center, we’re pretty much at a collapse-like system.”
The arrival of federal assistance comes as the state faces an influx of coronavirus patients, with more than 1,500 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across the state, marking the highest number of patients receiving care since the onset of the pandemic.
The bed capacity is “extremely tight,” said Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. “Our ICUs today are full. Our patient beds are full.”
Prior to the field hospital’s opening, ABC News received an inside look as federal teams worked to set up the facility Thursday afternoon.
“I feel like we’re beyond disaster. … It really should be a scary time for everybody because it means that we feel like we have no capacity to deal with the things that we should be able to take care of,” Jones told ABC News correspondent Elwyn Lopez. “It really needs to be a wake-up call for those people.”
Although the facility will give the hospital a buffer to help manage the surge, Jones said, ultimately, “it’s just a Band-Aid,” or a temporary fix, for the problem.
The surge facility will give the hospital system a bit of relief, officials said, in managing both COVID-19 patients and other patients, as the number of hospitalizations continues to increase.
“We do not believe that we’re at a point where we’ve hit the peak or we’re turning the corner. In fact, we think we’re still on that upward climb,” Woodward said.
On Thursday, Mississippi reported more than 4,400 new cases, according to State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs, almost 1,000 more than the state’s previous record, he said, which will inevitably result in more hospitalizations and deaths.
“That means we’re gonna have about 93 more deaths, just for today. It means we’re gonna see over 300 new hospitalizations, just from the day. And that’s on top of a system that is already overtaxed. Let us be very clear that the vast majority of cases, and hospitalizations, and deaths are unvaccinated,” Dobbs continued.
Officials reported that they continue to see a rise in “relatively healthy” younger patients, the vast majority of them unvaccinated, in need of care. Similar to the uptick seen nationally, UMMC, which is the state’s only children’s hospital, has seen a concerning increase in pediatric patients.
“A large proportion, much larger than we’ve ever seen before, proportion of children being hospitalized, or hospitalized in the ICU, and these are not chronically ill children, these are healthy children that are being hospitalized,” Jones said.
Despite a recent bump in the state’s vaccination rate overall, Mississippi continues to struggle with its vaccine rollout, with just 35% of residents fully vaccinated — the second-lowest inoculation rate in the country.
It is of critical importance that people get the information about vaccines from reputable sources, Dobbs stressed.
“We should not be here, y’all. This is not necessary,” said Dobbs. “Too many people are getting information from wrong sources. … These Facebook conspiratorial lists are going to spread and run, and have no accountability for the people who are dying, and we’re here, picking up the mess.”
(CHILTON COUNTY, Ala.) — An Alabama family’s life was turned upside down when their 12-year-old son, a healthy, strong athlete, caught COVID-19 and landed in the hospital struggling to breathe.
Brody Barnett, a seventh grader from Chilton County, and his family are speaking out to warn the public of the dangers of the delta variant.
His mother, GeriLynn Vowell, told ABC News that her son tested positive on Aug. 6 and suffered extreme symptoms, including coughing and trouble breathing, within a day.
“He’s told his friends, ‘This is the worst that I’ve ever been sick,'” she said.
He said being in the hospital was a “scary experience,” adding, “It ain’t nothing to joke with,” to local ABC Birmingham affiliate WBMA-LD.
Brody, who was not vaccinated, was first exposed at the beginning of last week after going to a friend’s home where someone later tested positive for the virus. After hearing news of that positive result his family bought at-home COVID-19 kits.
“I tested Brody and his test popped up positive immediately. Then we went to an actual testing site and it was the same result,” Vowell said.
Vowell explained that she had tested negative for the COVID-19 test but positive for antibodies.
“My husband nor I have been vaccinated because we were positive for antibodies previously. We had just gotten the original COVID a few months back. So, we had just kind of been waiting to be vaccinated,” she said. She says they’ll get the vaccine when they test negative for antibodies.
Health experts recommend people get vaccinated even if they have been exposed to the virus because the vaccines are known to provide more durable protection, including against the delta variant. A study released Aug. 6 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that people who were unvaccinated were more than twice as likely to be reinfected compared to people who were vaccinated.
The night Brody tested positive he got a runny nose and started coughing. The next day it progressed to the point that he couldn’t breathe and felt pain in his ribcage.
“He was like, ‘I cannot breathe, I cannot take a breath,'” she said. “He couldn’t raise his arms over his head and take a breath.”
Days later she took him to Children’s of Alabama hospital in Birmingham, where he spent one night. A doctor told them Brody had COVID pneumonia.
When COVID-19 pneumonia occurs it can be severe and the lungs are most affected. Airsacs in the lunges fill with fluid and limit their ability to take in oxygen, resulting in shortness of breath and cough, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
“It was scary. The doctors said there’s nothing we can do other than Tylenol or Motrin to treat symptoms,” Vowell said, noting the doctor said his symptoms were consistent with the delta variant.
He was treated in the COVID wing where there “were probably a dozen kids or more” being treated, she recalled.
Today, Brody is at home recuperating and is slowly recovering.
“Our nights are still pretty rough. I feel like he’s feeling a little better now, we’re on Day 7. As far as walking outside, he gets winded very easily, his breathing isn’t where it should be and he still has lots of big coughing spells,” Vowell said.
Brody’s struggle with the virus has left the family shaken.
“It has scared him a lot. Our COVID units in our area had shut down pretty much and we didn’t hear about it this summer, we didn’t worry about the virus as much but now I think it’s definitely scared him to the point that he feels he is definitely more leery of it,” his mother said.
Brody and his family are speaking up to warn people that kids too can suffer greatly from the virus.
“Kids do get sick and [the virus] is real. We’re not out to condemn or condone or any of the political side of it,” Vowell said. “I just want to make other mommas and parents aware that it is real for kids and kids do get sick and it’s a scary thing when they do.”
COVID-19 infections among children has become a growing concern in the U.S.
Nearly 94,000 children’s virus cases were recorded for the week ending Aug. 5, which accounted for roughly 15% of all new cases reported across the nation, according to data from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. It’s a major jump from the week prior’s when 39,000 new child cases were reported.
As of Thursday there are 22 children at the Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham hospitalized with COVID-19.
(NEW YORK) — The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expected to greenlight booster shots for immune-compromised individuals this week, after mounting evidence reveals they may not reach full protection with their original vaccinations.
But this expanded authorization only will apply to this very narrow group. For the rest of Americans, currently available data suggests all three authorized vaccines are offering good protection at least six months after initial vaccination — likely even longer.
“We believe sooner or later you will need a booster for durability of protection,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, speaking at Thursday’s White House press briefing. “We do not believe that others, elderly or non-elderly, who are not immunocompromised, need a vaccine [booster] right at this moment.”
“We are evaluating this on a day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month basis,” Fauci added. “So, if the data shows us that, in fact, we do need to do that, we’ll be very ready to do it and do it expeditiously.”
Vaccine experts have said protection from current COVID-19 vaccines is expected to wane slightly over time. Meanwhile, the delta variant is expected to chip away slightly at overall vaccine effectiveness. Executives from both Moderna and Pfizer have said booster doses eventually will be needed.
But so far, vaccines are still holding up well, experts said. Some studies have indicated a slight dip in efficacy, but mostly when it comes to protection from symptomatic and mild illness. Data thus far indicates that vaccines are still extremely effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths.
Moderna and Pfizer both reported positive data from their ongoing phase 3 trials, which have continued to monitor volunteers at least six months after their initial shots. Moderna has said its vaccine remains more 93% effective against symptomatic illness after six months, while Pfizer reported a dip in efficacy to 84%, though both studies were conducted with slightly different criteria and prior to the emergence of the delta variant.
Although an independent study from the Mayo Clinic hinted that Pfizer immunity might wane faster than Moderna immunity, experts said it’s likely too soon to say that for sure.
Johnson & Johnson, meanwhile, has yet to report six-month data for its single-shot vaccine. The company, however, has released promising laboratory data showing a strong immune system response up to eight months later. And a real-world study from South Africa showed good protection against delta.
That said, some Americans aren’t waiting for a formal recommendation to get an additional shot. According to an internal CDC briefing reported by ABC News, approximately 1.1 million already have taken booster shots.
Many doctors have cautioned against this. Booster doses are still being studied formally, and there could be still-unknown risks associated with getting them. Researchers are still evaluating side effects, proper dosages and the right time to get one.
“The main thing I really want to stress to everyone,” said Dr. Simone Wildes, an infectious disease specialist at South Shore Health and an ABC News contributor, “is that, right now, we are not recommending booster shots. However, that could change.”
Other doctors and public health specialists also said they’re also not rushing to recommend boosters for the general public. Not only are current vaccines proving to be overwhelmingly effective, but doctors are also still collecting data on the potential impacts of an additional shot. And vaccine producers are still researching whether lower dosages will suffice as potential boosters.
“Everyone wants to know — when is the timeline?” Wildes said.
Experts still aren’t sure.
“We don’t know how long immunity lasts,” said John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “We don’t know what ‘waning’ means. We will clearly see that in the fall as we see a surge, and we’ll understand what delta or any future variant means for cases in the population.”
(LAS VEGAS) — As many Americans hesitate to get vaccinated against COVID-19, NBA legend Spencer Haywood is teaming up with a medical school in Las Vegas to tackle the mistrust of the health care system prevalent in some communities of color.
The Basketball Hall of Famer and Olympic gold medalist has joined the dean’s advisory committee at Roseman University College of Medicine to work on programs increasing diversity in medicine to tackle this issue.
In an interview with ABC News Live on Thursday, Haywood said that his daughter Shaakira, who is a doctor, inspired him to lend his voice to this cause.
“This crisis that we are facing in the African American community, in particular, in the Hispanic community — we are not being vaccinated because of the fear. There’s misinformation that’s going out, you know, about the vaccine,” Haywood said.
Experts share best masking tips to protect against COVID-19 delta variant
According to Haywood, a lack of diversity in medicine is one of the factors that leads communities of color to mistrust the system and one that he hopes to tackle through his partnership with Roseman.
“It helps when you have a person of your own ilk and your color to come to you and say, ‘Hey, you know, it’s OK to get the vaccine,'” Haywood said, adding that it’s important to train more doctors of color who can serve their own communities.
Dr. Pedro “Joe” Greer Jr., founding dean of Roseman University’s College of Medicine, told ABC News in a statement that the college is grateful to partner with Haywood in “increasing diversity in medicine through programs that inspire youth to pursue medical education and serve their community.”
As delta variant surges, COVID hospitalizations rise 30% over previous week
“As far as the African American community, we have so much fear about getting health care,” said Haywood, who played in the ABA and NBA from 1969 to 1983 and averaged more than 20 points and 10 rebounds per game for his career.
“We need to get out and get vaccinated. It’s so important,” he added. “Otherwise we’re not going to pull out of this as fast as we should here in America.”
The NBA Summer League kicked off in Las Vegas this week after Nevada reinstated an indoor mask mandate.
Clark County, where Vegas is located, has experienced a 26% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the past 14 days, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Meanwhile, the Southern Nevada Health District reports that as of Aug. 6 in Clark County, approximately 55.26% of adults age 18 and older are fully vaccinated. That is just shy of the national figure of 61.3%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And as the more transmissible delta variant surges, COVID-19 cases and deaths are up nationwide by more than 20% compared to last week’s seven-day average, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Thursday, and hospitalizations are up over 30% over the previous week.
ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.
(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) — Lila Hartley, from Jacksonville, Florida, took matters into her own hands when she heard Duval County Public Schools wouldn’t require masks for the upcoming school year: She wrote a letter to the school board and superintendent pushing for a mask mandate.
“I would like to encourage the requirement of masks at school in Duval County. Right now, especially while the Delta variant is surging, hospitalizing and killing so many kids. I really believe masks should be required,” she wrote in the letter, which was shared with “Good Morning America.”
“This pandemic is still around,” Lila told “GMA” of why she wrote the letter. “People are still dying and getting sick. Masks save lives, and I don’t want my brother to die.”
While Lila and her family are vaccinated, her brother Will, 10, is too young to receive the vaccine.
“I am so worried that if masks are not required my brother could go to school one day and the next be dying in the hospital,” the letter continued. “We are siblings so we have our rivalries but I don’t know what I would do if he died, especially if it was caused by a place that means so much to him, school.”
Will is also a big supporter of masks and finds himself reminding his friends to wear theirs properly.
“Masks do help us,” he told “GMA.” “I wear my mask because even though the rest of my family is vaccinated, there’s still a chance they can get it.”
Lila emailed a copy of her letter to the board on July 26, and has only heard back from one of the board members so far, she said.
On July 30, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order banning schools from requiring masks. If schools are found to be in violation, they may lose state funding.
According to the governor’s office, the order was in response to “several Florida school boards considering or implementing mask mandates” and to “protect parents’ freedom to choose whether their children wear masks.”
Following the executive order, the Duval County school board held a meeting Aug. 3 to decide on whether it would require masks for the upcoming school year.
Lila and her brother demonstrated with a number of others outside the meeting in favor of masks, while her father, Matt Hartley, and other parents, educators, and medical professionals voiced their opinions inside.
“We wanted to support dad because he’s been working hard,” Lila said.
“We’re fighting for ourselves, but we’re fighting for other kids too,” Hartley told “GMA.” “That’s our M.O. — we love our neighbors.”
The board voted 5-2 in favor of requiring masks with a parental opt-out. Parents will not have to provide a reason for opt-outs.
Hartley said that while the vote did “make things a lot better with masking,” he’s “disappointed” as it still leaves a lot of room for people to not wear them.
In a statement provided to ABC News, Duval County School Board Chairwoman Elizabeth Anderson said, “The Board’s emergency policy decision Tuesday night creates the best balance between our deeply held responsibility for the safety and welfare of students and staff while fully respecting parental choice under the Governor’s order.”
“It’s important to wear masks because it keeps each other safe,” Lila, who one day hopes to be secretary of state, said. “If I’m wearing a mask and the other person is wearing a mask then we’re both safe and not giving each other our germs and possibly COVID.”
(NEW YORK) — As COVID-19 infections surge again in the U.S., health officials are warning of a concerning uptick in pediatric cases and hospitalizations across the country, just as many children head back to the classroom.
With more than 48 million children under 12 still not eligible for vaccination, and less than a third of those ages 12 to 17 fully vaccinated, many youths remain at risk for infection.
Since the onset of the pandemic, nearly 4.3 million children have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, with infection rates growing exponentially in recent weeks.
In the last week, 94,000 new pediatric COVID-19 cases were reported, representing 15% of all reported new infections. Similarly, pediatric COVID-19-related hospital admissions are at their highest level since the onset of the pandemic.
“In the last several weeks, we have seen an enormous increase in the number of positive patients for COVID-19,” Dr. Ronald Ford, chief medical officer at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Florida, told ABC News. “Most of these children are coming from the emergency department, and most of them are not sick enough to come into the hospital. However, those that are admitted are sicker than what we’ve seen before, and many of them are requiring care in our sensitive care units.”
In June, there were just over 20 positive pediatric patients who required care from the hospital’s emergency room team, Ford said.
In the month of July, that number increased to over 200 patients, and in recent weeks, the hospital has already cared for 160 patients, and are “well on our way to breaking July’s record.”
Although severe illness remains uncommon among children, according to experts, there are some children, many with underlying conditions, who are so sick that they require intensive care measures, including ventilation.
The rate of pediatric hospital admissions, in children between the ages of 0 and 17, per capita, is now more than four times higher than it was just a month ago.
The increase in pediatric patients, who are coming in much sicker than those hospitalized with COVID-19 last year, has been an alarming development, said Anthony Sanders, nurse manager in Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Emergency Room. It’s “just a lot scarier this time,” he said.
The country’s largest states — California, Texas and Florida — are each dealing with 100 to 200 pediatric COVID-19 patients, according to federal data.
Sanders said that he is often struck by the fact that it is not only the child who tests positive, but also the entire family.
“I think for us the most striking thing is how the increase in the families that are coming in that are positive, not just the one patient but the parents are positive, all the siblings are positive, that’s been the biggest thing for me that’s super concerning because kids are going back to school,” Sanders said.
At Children’s Hospital New Orleans, a federal team has been called in to assist medical staff who are confronted with a significant surge in pediatric patients.
Dr. Nihal Godiwala, a pediatric intensivist at Children’s Hospital New Orleans, told ABC News that he and his team are exhausted.
“This is a surge of COVID happening, and it’s totally preventable, and that’s why it’s been so frustrating for everyone here,” Godiwala told ABC News. “It’s really taking a toll on everybody at this point.”
According to the nearly two dozen states that reported pediatric hospitalizations to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, 0.1% to 1.9% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in hospitalization. Similarly, in states that reported virus-related deaths by age, 0.00% to 0.03% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in death.
However, even for those who may not become severely ill from COVID-19, experts say there is an urgent need to collect more data on long-term impacts of the pandemic on children, including the long-term physical impacts of the virus.
Thus, many of these front-line workers are urging that proper precautions be taken, beginning with wearing masks, particularly in large settings, such as schools.
For children still ineligible for the vaccine, masking will be critical in the months to come, Ford said.
“The best thing you can do to protect your child is to keep them away from the virus,” Ford added. “Masking has been shown to reduce the incidence of transmission and reduce the chances of your children getting COVID-19. So, first and foremost masking is really going to be one of the best defenses we have.”
Getting eligible children vaccinated will also play a crucial role in keeping more children out of the hospital, added Dr. Nick Hysmith, medical director of infection prevention at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
“The majority of the patients who have been admitted, are between 10 and 13 years of age, which puts them right at or just below the age of vaccination,” said Hysmith. “This is why it is critically important for adults and children to get vaccinated as soon as possible.”
For those who are still hesitant about getting the vaccine, Godiwala pleaded for them “to stop thinking about yourself and think about others,” such as medically fragile children, the immunocompromised and the population under 12 not yet eligible for a vaccine.
“The vaccine is a lifeline to getting out of COVID and out of this mess,” said Godiwala.
(NEW YORK) — As the number of COVID-19 infections surges across the United States, with unvaccinated children among the most vulnerable, parents across the country are left wondering what decisions to make to keep their families safe.
Adding to the confusion is the fact that the COVID-19 surge, spurred on by the delta variant, is happening as millions of children are heading back to school, forcing kids to brace, along with parents and teachers, for yet another unpredictable, unprecedented school year.
“The way to think about this is, this is a rapidly evolving and dynamically changing situation,” Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News’ chief medical correspondent and a board-certified OBGYN, said. “It requires flexibility and patience and resilience and an open-mindedness to use new data, new information, new knowledge to affect a better health outcome, not only for us as individuals or our children, but for those people around us.”
Ashton, a mother of two college-aged children, said she looks at the latest COVID-19 data not only as a medical doctor, but also as a mother looking out for her children.
“I wear multiple hats,” she said. “I’m speaking to my own children about their behavior, and even though they are both fully vaccinated, what steps can they take to lower their risk as low as possible?”
Here are Ashton’s answers to five of the most pressing questions from parents amid the COVID-19 surge.
1. Why does it seem children are more vulnerable to COVID-19 now, amid the delta variant?
Viruses such as COVID-19 stay alive in their hosts, in this case humans, by mutating, which is what has created the delta variant, according to Ashton.
“The delta variant is one of several variants, you could also think about it as a mutation, compared to the novel strain of the coronavirus,” she said. “And right now, this delta variant definitely appears to be significantly more transmissible … and there is a suggestion that it may be causing more severe illness.”
Currently, only children ages 12 and older are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. Among children younger than 12 and children of any age who are not vaccinated, the data shows an “almost exponential increase” in the number of pediatric cases of COVID-19, according to Ashton.
“The majority [of the cases], 80-90%, are thought to be the delta variant,” she said. “It is unclear at this point if the pediatric age group is more susceptible to the delta variant or if this is just the delta variant doing its thing and attacking the most vulnerable population, which is, in this case unvaccinated children.”
2. Why is there a renewed call for people, particularly children, to wear face masks?
Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed its mask guidance and recommended that schools embrace universal masks, backtracking on an earlier recommendation that vaccinated students and staff could go without masks indoors.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), an organization of nearly 70,000 pediatricians, has also called for schools to enforce universal masking mandates.
The reason, according to Ashton, has to do with how much more transmissible the delta variant is than other strains of COVID-19.
“[The CDC] has done outbreak investigations using delta variant data and they have found that the viral load, or the amount of virus that is shed by someone who is vaccinated compared to someone who is unvaccinated, if they’re infected with the delta variant, is largely the same,” Ashton said. “There is very little risk of recommending children of this age group wearing a face covering, and we have seen the impact positive impact of benefits in reducing transmission and infection rates.”
She continued, “It’s always better, especially in the setting of a dramatic increase in case numbers, that we do more and not less, and that’s why you’re seeing these recommendations from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics.”
The need for face mask wearing extends beyond school to family interactions, like when an unvaccinated child interacts with vaccinated grandparents, for example, according to Ashton.
Medical experts also recommend that unvaccinated people, including children, wear face masks in indoor settings and follow other guidelines, like social distancing and hand washing. They also recommend that families who may have children of different ages who are vaccinated and unvaccinated all wear face masks when in indoor settings like grocery stores and schools.
3. How do I know what activities are safe for my children?
Ashton said parents can consider six factors when deciding what activities are safe for their children: Time, space, people, place, vaccination status and mask wearing.
1. Time: “Will your child be in a given environment for a prolonged period of time. Right now, that number, according to the CDC, is set at 15 minutes cumulative time in 24 hours. We know that the more time exposure, the higher the risk.”
2. Space: “How much space will there be between your child and the people that your child will be around? We know three to six feet right now is kind of the number whereby the risk goes up if you’re in that area. It goes down if you’re greater than six feet away, so that’s important.”
3. People: “How much space there is around people in that environment? When you take into account those parameters, that can help you stratify risk.”
4. Place: “Is there ventilation where [your] children are going to be? Is it an indoor setting, which we know has a higher risk in general? Or is it an outdoor setting, where there is a better wind or ventilation? That is very important.”
5. Vaccination status: “Certainly an option for some parents, depending on the age of their children, is to only put their children in environments where they know that the majority or all of the people in that environment are fully vaccinated. That might not be possible if you’re talking about children under the age of 12.”
6. Mask wearing: “That is a variable that is under our control. So even if everyone is not masked, if your child is masked, that can add some degree of added protection.”
4. Why do we seem to have taken several steps backwards in the pandemic?
“We are still learning about this virus,” said Ashton, responding to parents who may be frustrated by the pace of progress more than one year into the pandemic. “We’re still learning about different populations and their risk to the virus and to different variants every single day.”
“As we learn more, we have to maintain the ability to pivot and adapt our behavior, because if you look at this pandemic, and certainly what’s going on right now, there are really just two variables at play,” she said. “There’s the way the virus is behaving, and there’s the way human beings are behaving. It’s challenging enough if one of those variables is changing, but if both are changing at the same time, it can really be a moving target of sorts.”
5. Is the COVID-19 vaccine worth getting now amid the delta variant?
Absolutely, according to Ashton.
“It is critically important to understand that the goal of these vaccines is to save lives and reduce the risk of hospitalizations,” said Ashton. “And even amongst the delta variant, the vaccines are still largely doing their job.”
“That does not mean 100% of the time. That does not mean there will not be breakthrough cases of people that you know, that I know who become infected with COVID-19,” she said. “What it does mean is that the chance of dying of COVID, requiring ICU admission or hospitalization is dramatically reduced.”
Ashton said people who are getting vaccinated are taking the “most critical step” toward protecting not just themselves but also children who cannot yet be vaccinated.
“We have now nine months of personal experience in this country with hundreds of millions of people having been vaccinated with an excellent safety profile,” she said. “Right now [the vaccine] is the best tool we have so not to use it would be a tremendous missed opportunity.”
