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Transcript/ScriptUSAGM SHARE
((TITLE: COVID Kids Surge TV
HEAD: COVID Cases Surge Among US Children as Omicron Sweeps America
TEASER:
PUBLISHED: 01/25/2022: 8:40AM
BYLINE: Mariia Prus
DATELINE: Washington
CAMERA: Dmitriy Savchuk
VIDEO EDITOR:
PRODUCER: Kim Weeks
SCRIPT EDITORS: KE, MAS
VIDEO FROM: Reuters
COURTESIES NEEDED:
TYPE: TVPKG
TRT: 3:48
VIDEO APPROVER'S INITIALS: pcd
EDITOR NOTE:))
((INTRO))
[[In mid-January the average number of daily new COVID cases in the U.S. fluctuated between 750,000 and 800,000, according to the CDC COVID Data Tracker. Children under five remain one of the most vulnerable groups since they cannot be vaccinated yet. In the first week of January, over half a million young children were diagnosed with COVID-19, an 80% increase compared to late December 2021. Mariia Prus has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.]]
((NARRATOR))
In August at just three months old, Baker Mills entered an Atlanta children’s hospital with COVD-19.
((Hannah Mills, Baker’s Mother))
“One of our biggest fears when we were pregnant with him was – knowing how bad COVID was – was him getting COVID, because of all of the unknowns about it. Not knowing what to expect, hearing all the stories, how bad it was for people, how people are dying…”
((NARRATOR))
Although Baker had relatively mild symptoms, doctors still decided to hospitalize him due to his young age.
((Hannah Mills, Baker’s Mother))
“I’m just glad that it’s not as bad with him. I think it has a lot to do with us being fully vaccinated – I got vaccinated while I was pregnant with him.”
((NARRATOR))
As of mid-January, about 8.5 million U.S. children had tested positive for the coronavirus. About 11% of those cases were confirmed during a two-week period in January of 2022.
While children generally have milder symptoms, the speed at which omicron spreads is overstraining the system.
((Dr. Jacob Eichenberger, Children’s Hospital of Georgia))
“This omicron wave has really been...we have matched our worst delta wave with hospitalizations and then even more than that are clinic visits for what might be considered mild cases. But it’s overwhelming clinics and emergency departments – just the number of kids coming in with fevers and real sore throats – it’s just a large volume of visits…”
((NARRATOR))
Children under five remain one of the most vulnerable groups because vaccines have yet to be approved for this youngest age group. As a result, many parents are opting to not send their little ones to daycare and pre-K. Yelena Wheeler, mother of 5-year-old C.J. and 8-year-old Cambria is among them.
((Yelena Wheeler, Mother of Two))
“The school districts are like –‘We don’t have funds, we’re not going to do mandatory testing, and so come send your child! We can’t guarantee it’s safe!’ I mean, we understand nothing is guaranteed safe, but it’s one thing if all other districts were not doing mandatory testing, but one of our biggest districts right next door to us, three blocks from here, LAUSD, has mandatory testing, and we don’t.
((NARRATOR))
But for other parents, COVID is now a part of life and there’s not much that can be done to avoid it all together.
((Biljana Starcevic-Parrish, Mother of 5-year-old Frankie))
“I’m not worried at all – I want them to be open. I want my kid to go to school. In fact, I think that now that vaccines are widely available the officials should start thinking about making school normal again....”
((NARRATOR))
In early January, US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona encouraged schools in the country to remain open for in-person learning. Many authorities recognize that online has been hard on both children and parents, and that every school district is different.
((Julia Rafal-Baer, Education Consultant at ILO Group))
“I don’t think that this is the time to have any one-size-fits-all on this. Communities are seeing this classroom-by-classroom and school-by-school – how they need to continue to adjust to keep things reopen.
((NARRATOR))
By mid-January, 64% of teenagers aged 12-17 in the US were fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Authorities are encouraging parents of younger children to vaccinate their younger kids aged 5-12, as doctors are preparing to deal with the rising surge in younger patients.
((For Mariia Prus in Washington, Anna Rice, VOA News))
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