"When you get a highly transmissible virus that's going around the community, you're going to see a lot more children get infected. "Also, we've got to realize that this is happening in the context of the Delta variant, which is remarkably more transmissible, so we're getting more cases in everyone," Fauci said.
The latest weekly count of new pediatric cases - 243,373 - marks about a 240% increase since July, the American Academy of Pediatrics said Monday.įactors including school reopenings without proper masking have likely contributed to the increase, Fauci said Wednesday.
That's almost triple the average daily death rate from one month ago.ĬOVID-19 cases are surging among children, too, as schools have welcomed students back - in many cases without mask mandates. That's a 33% increase from one month ago.Īnd over the past week, an average of 1,843 Americans have died every day from COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins data. The United States has averaged 171,394 new COVID-19 cases every day over the past week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Peter Marks, who heads FDA's vaccine division, said in a Friday statement the agency will carefully review data for a vaccine for children 5 to 11 once it's available and is "prepared to complete its review as quickly as possible, likely in a matter of weeks rather than months."īut "the agency's ability to review these submissions rapidly will depend in part on the quality and timeliness of the submissions by manufacturers," they added. Pediatric COVID cases are reaching alarming heights as experts are torn over whether or not a booster shot is necessary.Īcting FDA Commissioner Dr.