Surge in childhood hospitalizations from delta variant ‘very worrisome’

National Institute of Health Director Francis Collins said Sunday the surge in child hospitalizations from the delta variant of the coronavirus is  “very worrisome” and said it is mind “heartbreaking” to see the political pushback against requiring masks in schools.

Mr. Collins said there is a good chance the fourth wave of the coronavirus, fuelled by over 90 million unvaccinated people “who are sitting ducks,” has yet to peak.

“I think traditionally people kind of considered, ’Well, you know kids aren’t going to get that sick with this,’” he said on Fox News Sunday. “More than 400 children have died of Covid-19 and right now we have over almost 2,000 kids in the hospital with COVID-19 — many of them in ICUs. Some of them are under the age of 4.”

“So anybody who tells you, ‘Don’t worry about the kids, the virus won’t really bother them,’ — that is not really the evidence, especially with the delta being so contagious, kids are very seriously at risk.”

Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas have been among the elected GOP leaders at the state and local level that have resisted mask mandates. 

Mr. Collins said the evidence that masks work “is very” strong and said it is frustrating to see that a mask has become a political symbol for something other than being a “life-saving medical device.”

“Somehow it is now being seen as an invasion of your personal liberty,” he said. “We never should have gone there.

“It is heartbreaking for me as a person who is not a politician, I’m a scientist, I’m a public health person, I’m a doctor, to see how masks have gotten into this very strange place with parents and others shouting about it.”

“We never should have allowed that to happen,” Mr. Collins said. 

“It is devastating that we in this country, the most advanced, technological, society on the planet has somehow slipped into a space where the evidence and the basis for making decisions on facts has gotten pushed aside by politics, by social media conspiracies and by this incredible depth of anger and grievance that seems to be held by so many,” he said.