Kids in low-vaccination states are much more likely to get Covid-19. That’s a no-brainer.
The CDC, based on its latest compilation of data, reports that kids are 3.4 times as likely to visit an ER, and 3.7 times as likely to be hospitalized, in those states (read story here).
Coinciding with this summer’s Delta surge, 5 times as many children are being hospitalized with Covid-19 illness, with a quarter of those patients needing ICU care. Some states have run out of pediatric ICU beds.
“What is clear from these data is community level vaccination coverage protects our children,” the CDC says. The obverse also is true: Low vaccination rates put kids at higher risk, and results in more kids getting sick. Way more.
Meanwhile, in states like Florida and Texas, Republican governors and stupid, selfish parents are fighting school mask rules with all they’ve got. If I had school-age children today, I would pull them out of any school that didn’t require every child to be masked. If a kid in your child’s classroom isn’t wearing one, that kid probably also lives in a household where the adults aren’t vaccinated, don’t wear masks, and don’t practice social distancing, greatly magnifying the odds that kid is a spreader.
For all their bleating about personal “freedom,” Covid-19 safety isn’t an individual prerogative. It affects everyone, and no one has a right to endanger others. Now, they’re not just doing it to themselves and their own kids, but other people’s kids as well. It’s time to treat these people as a danger to society, because that’s what they are.
Related story: A Texas teacher grappled with whether to get vaccinated, and deciding which vaccine to get. She waited too long. She died only 3 days after testing positive. Read story here. Not quite as fast as getting hit by lightning or a falling tree, but close. The founder of this blog began feeling ill on a Friday, went to the ER the following Monday, and died the next day. I’ve seen story after story of people who felt perfectly healthy and then a week or two later were gone.
Related story: In the U.S., Covid-19 testing is still disorganized, haphazard, and inadequate. (Read story here.)