For the week ending Jan. 16, the population under age 19 in the Austin-Travis County area accounted for 4.5% of the hospitalized population, according to an Austin Public Health dashboard. However, the increase in the volume of cases is causing staffing shortages in schools, businesses and health care as parents are forced to care for their sick children, APH officials said.
Hospital staffing in particular has become a significant issue, said Douglas Havron, executive director for the Capital Area of Texas Regional Advisory Council, a group that coordinates trauma and emergency care in the region.
“[On Jan. 20] all of our major trauma centers were saturated or beyond the saturation thresholds, and on [Jan. 18], those were more than double our saturation thresholds, some of the highest scores we've seen in our region ever in our history,” Havron said during a Jan. 21 news conference.
He added that on Jan. 19 the region had 281 holds in emergency departments, meaning the number of people waiting for inpatient beds, which he attributed to staffing shortages.
APH officials said part of the reason for the increase in COVID-19 cases among children is the lower vaccination rates as 91% of children admitted to pediatric hospitals were unvaccinated. While children ages 5-11 have been eligible to receive the vaccine since November, only 26% of that age group is fully vaccinated in Travis County.
“What we've also heard from parents is that they feel like this disease is mild and won't have an effect on their child, and so that's part of why they're hesitant to get it because they don't feel like the vaccine is really needed, but we're seeing that that's not the case,” said Cassandra DeLeon, APH’s chief administrative officer for disease prevention and health promotion.
APH officials declined to say if the current surge will result in recommendations to close schools, but the 1,896 cases per 100,000 residents in the past seven days is within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s threshold to advise canceling schooling or hosting high-risk activities virtually.
“We know that 91% of the children who are hospitalized in local area pediatric facilities are unvaccinated, and what that means is that we need to continue messaging the importance for vaccinations, the importance of keeping your children at home if they're ill, getting health care advice from your doctor or pediatrician,”said Dr. Desmar Walkes, the Austin-Travis County health authority.
She added it will be important to also continue masking, social distancing and hand washing.
