As SC children catch COVID at record rates, pediatric hospitals are at or near capacity

More than 17,000 South Carolina children under the age of 10 have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the six weeks since the state’s first schools opened their doors in late July.

That’s a massive increase from the 1,142 young kids who caught COVID during the first six weeks of last school year.

While the current spike in children’s cases coincides with an across-the-board explosion in coronavirus infections among people of all ages, the proportion of kids catching COVID is far greater this year.

Children under 10 make up 12.4% of all COVID-19 cases over the last six weeks compared to just 3.7% of cases — the lowest of any age group — during the first six weeks of the 2020-2021 school year, according to state health department data.

The under 10 age group, which is too young for vaccination, has accounted for 6.8% of COVID cases over the course of the pandemic.

The surge in infections among young children is forcing schools to suspend in-person classes and taxing children’s hospitals across the state.

As of Thursday afternoon, more than four-dozen schools in at least 20 South Carolina districts had temporarily transitioned to full virtual learning due to COVID-19 outbreaks and more schools are closing their doors each day, the state Department of Education said.

The prognosis for children who contract COVID-19 is good, but not all kids experience only mild flu-like symptoms.

The South Carolina Children’s Hospital Collaborative, which collects data from the state’s four children’s hospitals, reported Friday that 34 children in South Carolina were hospitalized with COVID-19. Seventeen of those children were in intensive care units and eight were on life support, according to the organization.

None of the children hospitalized with COVID-19 are vaccinated, despite nearly half of them being eligible for shots, the SC Children’s Hospital Collaborative said.

“We have the most children we’ve ever had in our ICUs due to COVID,” said Dr. Caughman Taylor, senior medical director at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital–Midlands. “We have had five weeks of our ICU being at 100% capacity with (pediatric intensive care unit) holds in our (emergency department) except for two nights. That is unprecedented. Even in the worst flu seasons, we never went more than four or five days in a situation like that.”

COVID impacting SC children like never before

Taylor pleaded with South Carolinians to get vaccinated and make sure their children wear masks, saying the failure to take precautions had led to unnecessary illness and suffering.

“This is impacting children like it has never impacted children in the state of South Carolina. Ever,” he said. “So we’re asking for your help. This is serious, it’s getting worse, the trends are not improving.”

Dr. Robin LaCroix, a Prisma Health-affiliated pediatric infectious disease specialist in the Upstate, said in recent days local pediatric practices had seen incredible increases in patient volume.

Between Monday and Thursday, Prisma Health Upstate pediatricians saw more than 8,000 children. A single office received more than 800 calls and Upstate pediatric practices administered a combined 700 COVID tests on Monday alone, she said.

Dr. Deborah Greenhouse, a Prisma Health-affiliated pediatrician in Columbia and past president of the South Carolina chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said her practice also has been inundated with kids sick with COVID-19 or exposed to it.

Greenhouse, like other South Carolina pediatricians, blamed the highly contagious delta variant and the relaxation of coronavirus mitigation measures in schools for the alarming rise in childhood cases.

“The layers of protection that we need to put in place (in schools) are not there, the virus is more contagious — easier to spread — and we created the perfect storm,” she said. “And the result of that perfect storm is exactly what most pediatricians expected to see.”

Some parents have pulled their children out of public schools that cannot by law enforce face mask requirements and are educating them at home. Others who can afford it are sending their kids to private schools where masks are mandated.

Many families, however, are stuck sending their kids to public schools, pleading with them to keep their masks on during the day and hoping for the best, Greenhouse said.

“As a community, as a state, we should be doing everything in our power to keep our children safe,” she said. “Not only are we not doing that, in many ways, we’re doing the opposite. And that’s simply not OK.”

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a Columbia ordinance adopted last month that mandated masks in elementary and middle schools and daycare centers.

The state’s highest court found the city’s emergency ordinance, which Republican South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson asked the body to examine, was in clear conflict with a one-year state law aimed at prohibiting school mask requirements that Republican lawmakers attached to the state budget.