COVID cases, hospitalizations rising among Fresno children, teens. What the data says
By mid-August, more than 750 new cases of COVID-19 in Fresno County occurred among children and teens – a population that includes more than 190,000 children under the age of 12 who are not yet eligible to receive a vaccination against coronavirus.
The Fresno County Department of Public Health reports that since the first local cases were identified in March 2020 in the global coronavirus pandemic, nearly 18% of the cases to date have been among people 0 to 19 years old. That’s about 20,100 out of 113,000 reported COVID-19 cases in the county or more than one out of every six cases.
Through Aug. 17, data from Fresno County health officials indicates that about 9,800 cases have been among those who are still too young to receive shots of the Pfizer two-dose vaccine that has emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for use in children ages 12 to 17.
About 40,000 children in Fresno County in the 12-to-17 age range have received at least one dose of vaccine. That’s a little less than 44% of those who are eligible to get the shots.
The number of new cases among children and teens has been on the rise since June, as the highly contagious delta variant of coronavirus became the dominant strain among new infections in the central San Joaquin Valley as well as throughout California and the U.S.
June was also when California reopened its economy by discontinuing its color-coded system of county tiers that set forth varying levels of limitations on businesses and activities based on the rate at which COVID-19 cases were spreading in a county.
In June, 186 coronavirus cases were reported among the 0-19 age group. In July, the figure was 896, almost five times higher. By Aug. 17, the most recent date for which detailed Fresno County figures were available, there were 758 new cases or almost 45 new cases per day.
At that rate, August will easily eclipse July’s case totals among people ages 19 and under.
Youth cases are also making up an increasing proportion of new infections among neighboring counties in the central San Joaquin Valley:
- Kings County reports that of almost 26,000 coronavirus cases to date, 4,060 of them – almost 16% – are among ages 0-19.
- In Madera County, 2,526 of the reported cases to date are among children ages 17 and under, or about 14% of the total 18,129 cases.
- Merced County’s COVID-19 data dashboard does not include a breakdown of cases by age group, but the county Department of Public Health reported Wednesday that in the recent surge of cases over the past couple of months, “approximately 25% of cases have been identified in children (ages 0-17) whereas in previous waves only 11% of cases were identified within this age group.” Also on Wednesday, Merced County reported its first childhood death attributed to the coronavirus.
- Just over 100 of Mariposa County’s 754 total cases to date are among ages 0-17, or about 13.5%.
- In Tulare County, health officials report that of almost 54,000 cases to date, about 8,400 – or 15.6% – have been among children 17 years old or younger.
As cases among younger people grow, so too does the number of children hospitalized in Fresno and Madera counties, according to data from the Fresno County Department of Public Health.
Officials at Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera County reported earlier this month that they had experienced a sharp increase in the number of children being brought into the emergency department for symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and the respiratory disease it causes – 81 in July, compared to 13 in June.
The number of children hospitalized at Valley Children’s doubled, from 15 in June to 30 in July.
The latest information from Fresno County health officials combines pediatric hospitalizations in Fresno and Madera counties because so many Fresno children go to Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera County. Between the two counties, the number of hospitalized kids grew from five on Aug. 1 to 13 on Aug. 19.
Health officials have warned to expect an increase in new COVID-19 infections among children as students return to classrooms across the Valley.
Days after the first day of school, the Fresno Unified School District reported 252 cases among students and staff, while Clovis Unified had 80 cases, and Central Unified reported 78.
Nearly a dozen elementary school classrooms in Fresno were forced to quarantine at home just days into the new school year.
