PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- Nearly 252,000 children in the United States have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last week. Kids now make up more than 26% of new cases.
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In the U.S., at least 520 children have died from COVID-19.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says, while children are less likely to die from COVID-19 than adults, the deaths are still significant.
Data released last week shows one-fifth of new COVID-19 cases are among children. And those who are under the age of 12, not old enough to be vaccinated, are often getting infected from unvaccinated adults.
Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, who served President Joe Biden's transition COVID-19 advisory board, says infections among children is a critical threat this school year.
"This is highly infectious in these kids, and kids really do get very sick," he said. "It's not like in the average flu season."
Osterholm sees one key factor to make the academic year safe: vaccinations.
The CDC promotes vaccination and recommends masking in schools. There are no universal requirements for either, but in schools where safety protocols are being followed, Walensky says, transmission rates are lower.
A mask mandate went into effect in all Pennsylvania schools on Tuesday grades K-12, as well as early education and other child care settings. And the Philadelphia Board of Education at the end of August voted to require district teachers and employees to get COVID-19 vaccinations. Superintendent William Hite is now charged with drawing up the plan, but there is no deadline yet.
In New Jersey, teachers and staff are returning to school buildings whether they vaccinated or not, but Gov. Phil Murphy has set Oct. 18 as the deadline for employees to submit their vaccination cards, or be subject to weekly COVID-19 testing.
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Walensky recently defended sending kids back to classrooms. Despite the increase in COVID-19 infection rates and hospitalizations among kids, she said schools are among the safer places for children.
She said schools are places where children who are not yet eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine can be surrounded by a shield of vaccinated people.
Yet even where solid mitigation measures are in place, Osterholm says, "the chances of having an outbreak are still real."
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With students having lost out on a year or more of learning, Osterholm says many educators felt that returning kids to classrooms was crucial for their well being. But he says too many mistakes were made to get there, with some putting "blinders on," acting as if the virus doesn't exist anymore.
Since the start of this academic year, COVID-19 outbreaks have shut down at least 1,000 schools across 35 states.
In Mississippi, health officials just reported the death of a seventh child from COVID-19. In Texas, schools across the state are returning to virtual learning, because so many kids have been infected -- more than 50,000 students in the last three weeks. And in Florida, over the past 10 days, 15 unvaccinated staff members of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools District have died from COVID-19.
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