(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Lurie Children’s Hospital on Thursday reported a significant uptick in the number of kids contracting COVID-19.
“Over the past six to eight weeks at Lurie Children's, we've seen more than a 500% increase in the number of children diagnosed with COVID-19 each day,” said Dr. Larry Kociolek, the hospital’s director of the Infection Prevention and Control.
The hospital is also seeing an increase in the number of children hospitalized with COVID-19.
During a press conference Thursday morning, Dr. Kociolek warned that if coronavirus trends continue, the hospital could reach a breaking point.
“Nearly every single bed in our hospital is occupied with children at the current time, receiving care for a variety of conditions,” said Kociolek.
A continuing surge in coronavirus infections could overburden the hospital’s resources for everyone, he said.
Kociolek said that scenario is entirely preventable if people follow current coronavirus mitigation strategies.
“Vaccination; it is the single most important thing we can do,” he said. “We know children are much more likely to get COVID-19 from adult contacts, so everyone who is eligible for vaccination should receive this extremely safe and effective vaccine.”
Across the country, the American Academy of Pediatrics reports child COVID cases have increased exponentially over the past month, rising from about 38,000 cases the week ending July 22 to 180,000 the past week.
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