There aren’t many blessings to count from these last 20 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, but one of the few is that the disease, in its first rounds at least, only rarely affected children. According to the American Association of Pediatrics, roughly 1% of children infected with SARS-CoV-2 end up hospitalized, and 0.01% die. Every death is a tragedy, and in a nation where over 615,000 people have died, tragedies are all too common. But at least child deaths from COVID-19 have been extremely rare. Except, that may be changing. 

As the delta variant has gained dominance, the age of those hospitalized for COVID-19 has skewed increasingly younger. Some of that is definitely related to vaccination rates. In the United States, 80% of those over 65 are fully vaccinated, but when looking at the total population the number drops to just 50%. For those under 12, the vaccination rate can be calculated easily—it’s 0%. No vaccine currently available under an emergency use authorization from the FDA is available for Americans under 12. Trials of vaccines on children are still underway, and it’s expected to be September before any of those trials will be completed.

In the meantime, children are left completely unprotected from the disease. So a “pandemic of the unprotected” is also a pandemic of kids. Right now, there are more children hospitalized for COVID-19 than at any point in the pandemic. And those “extremely rare” tragedies seem to be coming with sickening regularity.

The idea that kids were “immune” to COVID-19 was itself weaponized by those who have, from the beginning, sought to treat the pandemic lightly. Treating children as if they could not catch or carry the disease was a convenient position for those demanding to “reopen the schools.” The relatively low infection rate among children in the opening months of the pandemic also made studies done at schools subject to statistical noise, making them good targets for those who wanted to make claims for such disproven ideas as “masks don’t work” and “social distancing doesn’t matter.”

But as kids head back into school, the numbers are looking different. As the Jackson Clarion Ledger reports, just a week after school began, hundreds of Mississippi students have tested positive, and over 4,000 have been quarantined for possible exposure. Schools that opened their doors to in-person classes are rapidly finding themselves quickly retreating to virtual classes. 

Children can carry COVID-19. Children do. Children can also get desperately sick from the disease, and what was a trickle last year is starting to seem more like a steady stream.

As WDSU reported, the chief of the Children’s Hospital in New Orleans has a clear message: “This is not your grandfather’s COVID.” In the last few weeks, Dr. Mark Kline has been “shaken” by the pediatric cases flooding into the hospital. “The positivity rate for children in our outpatient settings increased from 1% a month ago, to 7% two weeks ago, to 20% today,” said Kline.

Not only that, but of those kids testing positive, the number who are seriously ill has also been rising steeply. According to Kline, 25% of those testing positive are now being hospitalized with the same kind of symptoms seem last year in older patients including respiratory issues and low blood oxygen. Many of these children need breathing assistance, something that’s not common in pediatric hospitals. Those patients include a 3-month-old baby now on a respirator.

New Orleans is far from alone. Arkansas has recorded three deaths among children since the delta wave began. As KATV reports, not only are none of the state’s youngest residents protected, but the vaccination rate for those between 12 and 18 in the state is only 19%. The latest victim was just 11; she literally never had a chance to protect herself, and she was just one of many in recent weeks.

The AAP reports that 93,824 cases of children with COVID-19 were reported in the week ending August 5. Over the course of the pandemic, children ranged from 1.5%-3.5% of hospitalizations, but that number may also be increasing.

As Dr. Jorge Caballero  reports, the rate of cases among children is extremely alarming. 

Not only are children accounting for a record level of COVID-19 hospitalizations, they’ve also reached a record level of COVID-19 deaths, indicating that there really is something different about how delta affects children.

A statement from Dr. Kline sums it up best. “It is heartbreaking honestly to take care of potentially dying children,” said Kline. “All of this was likely unnecessary if we as adults did what we needed to do and get the vaccine. We could have protected these children.”