| After weeks of a troubling COVID-19 surge across the U.S., infection rates are finally on the decline — but experts say there’s still work to be done before the tide can be turned, especially when cases remain exceptionally high among children.
On average, about 89,000 people are reported to have new COVID-19 infections every day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That number is about 30,000 less than the average from a week before, and experts are questioning if that decline is an ebb and flow of cases or the beginning of an end to high case counts.
“What’s going to determine whether this is the end of this surge or not really is up to us,” said Dr. Megan Ranney, the Associate Dean of Strategy and Innovation for the School of Public Health at Brown University.
What’s needed is for more people to get vaccinated as well as to wear masks indoors in high-spread areas and get children vaccinated, she said.
Children under 18 make up 22% of the U.S. population but account for 27% of all cases nationwide, according to data published Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
And although those cases are less likely to be severe or result in death, children can end up with long-term symptoms.
“I think we have underestimated the impact on children,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday. “Look at the pediatric hospitals throughout the country… they’re seeing a lot of children in the hospital with severe infection.”
Fauci has said the vast majority of the U.S. will need to be vaccinated to control the spread, but according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention only 56% of the population is fully vaccinated.
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