- With fall approaching, the debate surrounding whether or not to send children back to school has become heated.
- Studies have found that children can transmit the coronavirus just as easily as adults, prompting many parents to demand a remote-learning option for the upcoming year.
- A recent report highlights which states are seeing an unusually high percentage of coronavirus infections in kids.
With fall just around the corner, the debate surrounding whether or not schools in the U.S. should re-open has become incredibly contentious. One of the inherent dangers associated with having young students return to school is that kids are less likely than adults to adhere to basic coronavirus safety guidelines. This dynamic was made plainly clear recently after a viral photo from a Georgia high school showed a packed hallway with barely any students wearing masks.
While kids, generally speaking, don’t have to worry about contracting the coronavirus and enduring severe symptoms, the underlying fear is that as the virus spreads amongst kids, it will ultimately spread to parents and the broader community.
In fact, a recent study out of South Korea found that kids between the ages of 10 and 19 can spread COVID-19 just as readily as adults.
As it stands now, school systems across the country are employing different tactics in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. While some districts are aiming to employ a hybrid model that would see students attend school for two to three days during the week, others are opting for an online-only approach. And of course, schools in some areas will open up this fall despite the ongoing pandemic.
Incidentally, the aforementioned school in Georgia closed down temporarily this week after nine students and teachers tested positive for the coronavirus.
So where do we stand now? Well, the fact of the matter is that we’re seeing more children test positive for the coronavirus now than we have before. According to a relatively recent report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, 338,000 children tested positive for COVID-19 as of July 30. And speaking to the spike in infections, 28% of those infections occurred during the last two weeks of July alone. The report adds that six states have seen more than 15,000 positive child cases since the pandemic started.
The report further identifies seven states which are experiencing the highest number of child COVID-19 cases for every 100,000 children. Those states include the following:
- Arizona – 1098 cases per 100,000 children
- Arkansas – 748 cases per 100,000 children
- Florida – 711 cases per 100,000 children
- Louisiana – 859 cases per 100,000 children
- Mississippi – 797 cases per 100,000 children
- South Carolina – 959 cases per 100,000 children
- Tennessee – 932 cases per 100,000 children
The five states which have seen the highest cumulative number of coronavirus cases amongst kids is as follows:
- California – 42,697 cases
- Florida – 24,974 cases
- Illinois – 16,262 cases
- North Carolina – 13,346 cases
- Tennessee – 16,436 cases
Lastly, a recent poll of nearly 3,000 parents in the Boston area revealed that 73% would prefer a transition to remote learning for the fall term.
