Cook Children鈥檚 Medical Center in Fort Worth is seeing the highest number of COVID-19 cases per day since the beginning of the pandemic, with 14 children currently hospitalized with the disease 鈥� the most to date.
The hospital keeps track of COVID-19 tests at its main medical center, as well as at primary and urgent care clinics. One of the main metrics it uses is the proportion of all tests that end up positive. On Friday, the seven-day average of positive tests was 10.6%, up from an average of 5% in recent months.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 not inconsequential,鈥� said Dr. Nicholas Rister, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Cook Children鈥檚. 鈥淲e do a lot of testing, so that鈥檚 reflecting quite a bit of disease.鈥�
He said Cook Children鈥檚 doesn鈥檛 come close to catching all of the cases in the community.
鈥淭his just reflects the portion we see and are able to get a hold of,鈥� he said.
Rister blames the increase in cases on climbing COVID numbers in the community at large.
He said while there is definitely spread within schools, he doesn鈥檛 see the return to in-person classes as the main problem. Though, Rister emphasizes there isn鈥檛 firm data yet.
鈥淭here鈥檚 school adjacent things. There鈥檚 sports, there鈥檚 school events, there鈥檚 friends getting together, there鈥檚 birthday parties, there鈥檚 gatherings,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hose are probably the bigger drivers, especially when you have groups of people outside the classroom.鈥�
Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley has encouraged schools to stop holding sporting events. on Saturday, and then Monday鈥檚 numbers surpassed it.
As a result, Cook Children鈥檚 has once again limited the number of visitors a patient can have. Starting November 16, only one primary caregiver can visit a child in the hospital. No siblings or other visitors are allowed.
The same policy was in place from March to October 1, when the hospital loosened restrictions to allow two caregivers to visit.
Back then, it seemed like the pandemic was easing a bit, said Dr. Mary Whitworth, the medical director for infectious diseases at Cook Children鈥檚. Now, they need to tighten up again to protect patients and healthcare workers from exposure.
鈥淚t鈥檚 terrible to reach this decision because we鈥檙e all parents. We are doing our best in a really difficult time to try to keep everybody safe,鈥� she said.
While children don鈥檛 seem to get as sick as adults when they catch COVID, Whitworth said that throughout the pandemic, Cook Children's has seen severe cases that require intensive care and ventilators.
Cook Children's has not seen any deaths from COVID-19.
Whitworth added that they have also not seen any deaths from its 21 reported cases of .
MIS-C is still mysterious to doctors. It鈥檚 a rare disease that sometimes follows a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection in kids.
MIS-C is similar to another, more well-known pediatric illness called . MIS-C can cause inflammation in various organs, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain and skin. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, symptoms can include rash, fever, diarrhea, vomiting and belly pain.
that a child under 10-years-old in the Lubbock area died due to MIS-C this week.
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