In Sacramento County, California, children make up 20 percent of COVID-19 cases. Other data released by health officials showed that the death rate for African Americans, both adults, and younger people, in the area is at a higher rate.
Health officials said through a weekly media briefing Thursday that the county still has an average of 500 to 600 COVID-19 cases daily. Daily deaths, on the other hand, increased to five. The total number of patients at area hospitals in Sacramento County is 425. This is just a couple of patients short of the 512 peak last winter, Kcra reported.
More on the reports about Children in Sacramento County, one in five total COVID-19 cases is a child. Officials said that they do not believe that the cases are due to them attending face-to-face classes at schools. Sacramento County Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye noted, “As schools open, we are seeing an increase in cases among children. Most of them are mild and do not require hospitalization.” Although they are mild, Kasirye said it is still a concern because some children “might end up with a severe disease.”
However, most schoolchildren are not eligible for vaccination yet, and there is no social distancing at schools, so more cases are expected soon. Kasirye further shared, “That’s the reason we ask all the schools to implement the masking mandate, especially indoors.” To help assist schools, the county set up a team working with them to make sure children are quarantined if necessary. Testing resources are also available if needed.
Another county official, Nick Mori, said that they believe the cases of COVID-19 in children were acquired from home or somewhere else outside of the school setting. Mori said that after they detect it, children with COVID-19 are quarantined appropriately so that a spread to other people on campus cannot or schools cannot catch the virus.
For the data regarding African Americans, the group accounted for 24.1 percent of the deaths for the past 30 days. Kasirye said that a lower vaccination rate in such minority group is a leading cause regarding this trend. Health officials are now working with community agencies, churches, and ethnic media to increase vaccine confidence in the African American community.
