Following our update yesterday (July 15th) about serious and troubling news regarding the spread of the Delta variant and it’s impact on our children, I am compelled to provide further critical updates.

Our Children

Just a few hours ago, the state of Mississippi reported a chilling observation- children being hospitalized with COVID.  The state reported 7 children admitted to ICUs with 2 on ventilators, and many more in the hospital.   Some had underlying complex medical problems, but some did not.  There is clear indication that the Delta variant not only transmits far better, but infects younger people and causes more severe illness.

At the same time, as we drop masks and gather again, so many winter viruses are now free to circulate, including a common cause of severe colds called RSV.  Across my entire career, RSV appeared in the winter and disappeared in the summer.  Last winter hospitals across America reported nearly zero cases of RSV, a real first.  And in another first, winter is now summer with RSV raging across America.

The increased risk of COVID in children may be a combination of Delta variant’s increased danger to children, and the background of COVID now spreading in children with RSV.

We do not really know the risk to our children, but early indicators are worrisome.  This only heightens our urgent recommendation that everyone 12 and up be immunized, that we revert to wearing masks and avoiding gathering indoors.

Cities and States Sound the Same Concerns

Also on July 15, the state of Mississippi, and the city of Los Angeles urged all people to start wearing masks again, immunized or not, and to begin to practice prudent distancing and avoiding large gatherings.

Bottom Lines

1. The early indicators of concern continue to mount, and shared by LA and MS, communities that do not always agree.
2. Get vaccinated.  The rise of children getting so sick from COVID they need an ICU makes it urgently clear- all children 11 and under are totally dependent on all of us 12 and older to get vaccinated, the only sure way to keep more kids off ventilators from COVID.
3. Time to wear masks again.  Time to avoid indoor settings and gatherings again.  Surely anywhere indoors with the exception of very small family gatherings in immunized homes.

The news of children in ICUs is unsettling, we need to act now to protect our children.

To All Our Health,
Dr. Arthur Lavin