COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in Dallas County, but this time, the age group reporting the largest upswing in cases is children up to 17.
“We used to see the rise exclusively in the elderly at the beginning, and then as we got into delta and omicron, we saw rises in every single group. But this is really the only time that we’ve seen the rise solely in 17-year-old folks and younger,” said Dr. Joseph Chang, chief medical officer at Parkland Health.
COVID-19 cases in all age groups jumped 32.4% the week ending September 2 compared to the previous week. Of the 10,538 cases reported that week, 3,467, or about 33%, were reported in youths under 18. Reported cases among high schoolers jumped 75%, and middle school and elementary school students saw a 60.8% increase over the previous week.
Steve Miff, the president and CEO of the Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation, attributed the uptick in cases to the recent return to school and the low vaccination rate among school-aged children. Last year, there was a similar increase in COVID cases at the beginning of the school year, although it did not account for such a large proportion of the county’s total cases that year.
Doctors at Parkland Health are encouraging parents and students to get vaccinated. “Students are back together again, and that means they are swapping germs and being in close quarters,” stated Dr. Chang.
The good news, Miff reported via Twitter, is that COVID-related hospitalizations and ICU cases have stayed relatively flat, despite the increase in COVID cases.
Dr. Chang also cautioned that it is likely that the flu will be stronger this year compared to the last two years because pandemic-related safety requirements, such as masking up and maintaining distance from one another, have been dropped.
Dr. Chang advised that flu shots are available and can be administered at the same time as the COVID vaccine. However, he said both shots can cause the recipient to experience symptoms of their respective viruses during the first 24 to 36 hours, so patients might want to consider spreading the doses out by a week to avoid multiplying the symptoms.