‘Pandemic High’: In Dallas County, COVID is rising among school-aged children

In Dallas County, COVID-19 cases are increasing among school-aged children, according to a tally from the Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation.

On Thursday, the center said elementary and middle-aged children experienced a 61% week-to-week incidence of COVID-19 cases. At the same time, health authorities recorded a 75% week-over-week spike in school-aged children.

In total, pediatric cases account for a third of the total number of COVID-19 infections, the center said, describing the number as a “pandemic peak”.

Despite the rise in the number of cases, hospitalizations and cases in intensive care units and emergency rooms have not increased, the center said.

Wednesday, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins confirmed the numbers on Twitter, urging followers to get the COVID-19 vaccine and booster if they haven’t already.

“It’s important that we all stay up to date,” Jenkins wrote. “Most individuals are now eligible for the updated vaccine that better protects against current variants of the virus.”

On Tuesday, Philip Huang, director of health and human services for Dallas County, told county commissioners that 5,000 doses of updated COVID-19 booster reportedly arriving in Dallas this week.

The revamped boosters are designed to provide better protection against the particularly contagious omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.

From Wednesday, the The Dallas Independent School District had documented at least 1,781 positive coronavirus cases since the start of the school year last month. Garland ISD recorded more than 2,100 cases among students and campus staff this school yearbut only 61 are considered active.

According to data published by The New York TimesTexas had more than 7.79 million cases of coronavirus since the pandemic first hit in early 2020. Of these cases, more than 90,000 resulted in death.

Late last month, preliminary data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated a drop in life expectancy in the United States for the second consecutive year.

In 2019, life expectancy was 79, but fell to 77 the following year. In 2021, that number fell back to 76.1.

The CDC has described COVID-19 as the “the main cause contributing negatively to the evolution of the life expectancy of the whole population.”

In Texas, about 62% of the population is fully vaccinated, compared to 68% in the United States.