OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) - A panel of doctors convened to shed light on the pediatric COVID-19 surge, saying cases among children have increased significantly since July.
Right now, children represent about 16% of all COVID cases in the United States.
That trend is tracking in Douglas County as well with pediatric cases making up roughly the same percentage.
Dr. Kari Simonsen, a pediatrician with UNMC, joined the panel and offered insight into how the delta variant is impacting kids.
"At this point, the data seem to really suggest that transmissibility and that increase in overall numbers are why we're seeing this, as opposed to the virus causing more severe disease overall,” she said. “Notably we've got children 0-4 with their highest rates of hospitalization at any point in the pandemic, so that's another area of concern in pediatrics."
Simonsen also shared the findings of a July study that says unvaccinated adolescents are being hospitalized at ten times the rate of unvaccinated adolescents.
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