The recent surge of COVID-19 cases across the country is revealing that children make up a large portion of the affected population. According to NBC News, multiple doctors across the country said children are being infected due to unvaccinated adults coming home with the coronavirus.
“Household infections are the beginning of this pandemic, that is a major driving force in the spread of infections. We see it often within households, parents to children,” Dr. Jim Versalovic, chief pathologist and interim chief pediatrician at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, told NBC News. “We have certainly seen siblings — more than two at times — with an infection at the same time, so spread within households is certainly a very real phenomenon.”
According to The New York Times, doctors are concerned that the new Delta variant is not only highly contagious, but children are more susceptible. Despite concerns, there isn't conclusive research that the new variant is more severe in children.
Between March and July, at least 81 children in the U.S. died from COVID-19, according to the CDC. Doctors are now overwhelmed as they deal with bed shortages and extended hours in children's hospitals.
“When I say they’re tired, they’re beyond that. They’re like, ‘I’m done,’” Dr. Jason Newland, a Washington University infectious disease physician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, said. “People are saying they just don’t want to do it anymore, and so we’re growing more and more limited in bed capacity. Hospital administrators are trying to figure these staffing shortages out."
In Sacramento, 10-year-old Peerless Turner tested positive for COVID-19 seven months ago and died a short time later, CBS13 reported. The boy was staying at his grandmother's house when he started feeling a headache and vomiting. He was rushed to the hospital, where doctors were unable to save him.
Peerless' mother, Ayriana Lambert, received a call from the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office a few days later.
“She said I want to let you know he tested positive for COVID and I said but what is his cause of death? And they said we don’t know,” Lambert said.
In Virginia, 17-year-old Schwanda Corprew died from COVID-19 complications at home after days of complaining about a headache, WTKR reported. Corprew's death is the first COVID-19-related fatality reported in the Eastern Region of Virginia.
Another family in West Memphis, Arkansas is mourning the loss of 11-year-old Jordyn Franklin, who also died from COVID-19 complications. The family said they took precautions to take care of the child, who had type two diabetes. But the child suddenly experienced COVID-19 symptoms and died after being hospitalized, WREG reported.
The family said the vaccine wasn't an option because the girl was under 12 years old.
"I do believe that everyone still needs to follow the guidelines, keep your distance, wear the mask and do everything that you possibly can do to keep you and your loved ones safe,” Kirsten Clark, Franklin’s aunt, said. “Hold your loved ones tight and just know that it can happen to anybody, at any age, at any time.”
Tyler Fairley, a student-athlete at Douglas County High School in Georgia, died from COVID-19 complications after being sent home twice by a hospital. The 17-year-old, who did not receive a COVID-19 vaccine, received the test result on July 23 and lost his life nine days later, CBS46 reported.
“People have been attacking me saying he should have gotten vaccinated, but what about the level of care that he did not get,” Tosha Nettles, the teen's mother, said.
When he was first taken to Wellstar Douglas Hospital in Douglasville, an Atlanta suburb, Fairley was diagnosed with pneumonia and sent home. On the second time, he was discharged and told to hydrate.
"One of the male nurses told the other male nurse we can’t hurt ourselves trying to help him get in this car. We’ve got to go. And they let go of him and he fell flat on his face inside the back seat of my car," Nettles said. "I was like can you all observe him for a while? Because I said this is not him. He’s not talking, he’s not responding, and they were like he’s just in pain because of COVID."
The family said the doctors failed to show any empathy from the beginning because the teen was not vaccinated.
“It was as if the doctor didn’t care because this was COVID and he didn’t prevent himself from having COVID because he wasn’t vaccinated,” Nettles told WSB-TV2.
The heartbroken mother said she rushed her son to another hospital as his condition worsened, but it was too late.
“They were screaming at us saying how long have you had him like this? How long have you had him like this? He is seizing, he is seizing. And I said we just left another hospital where they discharged him,” Nettles said.
Fairley, a passionate football player who was nicknamed "the gentle giant," lost his jovial spirit as he began to feel symptoms. The family is now wondering if the vaccine would have saved his life.
“I’m not a medical professional, but I do wish I had gotten him vaccinated,” Nettles said. “Do I know that the vaccine would’ve helped what he was going through? I don’t know. Do I even know if that was COVID that caused that? I don’t know because at the time of death, it was due to no brain activity which was caused by seizures.”
According to NPR, new COVID-19 cases in the country increased to almost 30,000 per day last month. Healthcare professionals say many of the patients are unvaccinated.
"There is a clear message that is coming through: This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated," Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC's director, said. "Our biggest concern is we are going to continue to see preventable cases, hospitalizations and sadly, deaths among the unvaccinated."
The FDA has not released emergency authorization for children under 12 to get the COVID-19 vaccine, increasing parents' concern as schools prepare to reopen. Versalovic, who is involved in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine trials for kids under 12, said the studies will not be sent to the FDA until well after the start of the school year.
