Is the Delta variant of the Coronavirus worse for children?

Washington: is that the Delta variant of the coronavirus worse for kids?

Experts say there’s no strong evidence that it makes children and teenagers sicker than earlier versions of the virus, although Delta has led to a surge in infections among kids because it’s more contagious.

Delta’s ability to spread more easily makes it more of a risk to children and underscores the necessity for masks in schools and vaccinations for those that are sufficiently old , said Dr Juan Dumois, a pediatric communicable disease physician at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St Petersburg, Florida.

Weekly infection rates among US children earlier this month topped 2,50,000, surpassing the wintertime peak, consistent with data from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children’s Hospital Association. Since the pandemic began, quite 5 million children within the US have tested positive for COVID-19.

The Delta variant has been identified in a minimum of 180 countries, consistent with the planet Health Organisation. In many of them, the spike in infections has also meant a rise in hospitalizations in young children and teenagers .

In the US, the hospitalisation rate for COVID-19 was but 2 per 100,000 children in late August and early September, almost like the height last winter, consistent with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. But the portion of youngsters hospitalized with severe disease hasn’t changed significantly.

The sheer numbers can make it appear to be children are becoming sicker with the Delta variant, but experts say that doesn’t appear to be the case. Most infected kids have mild infections or no symptoms and don’t got to be hospitalised.

COVID-19 vaccines still provide protection against Delta. Among children 12 and older, who are eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations, the weekly hospitalisation rate in July was 10 times higher for the unvaccinated than those that have had the shots, CDC data show.