Why Delta Scares Pediatricians

We understand. We are all so, so tired. Our kids have gone through so much, and as adults we have suffered watching them suffer. Parents are tired. Healthcare workers are tired. It’s easy to want to give up and pretend like this just isn’t happening anymore.

Here’s why we can’t: the Delta variant is 2-3 times more contagious than the original form of the COVID-19 virus, and because of that it is spreading more rapidly amongst the unvaccinated. I will admit that I want to scream a little every time I hear that this is now a pandemic “of the unvaccinated” because those are our patients. Those are our kids. In Nevada, about 45% of the population is vaccinated, leaving the majority of our population—and ALL of our kids under age 12—unprotected. As we go into another school year, our kids are at risk.

You may be seeing news reports discussing how many more children are hospitalized and very ill with this wave. This is not necessarily because Delta is inherently more dangerous than previous variants, but because it spreads so much more easily, and so aggressively among children (the unvaccinated). With any illness, if you start seeing more infections, you will start to see proportionally more severe infections and death. Pediatricians are seeing more COVID infections in children than at any point in this pandemic, and much sicker ones. Children are in ICUs, children are getting intubated. Children who survive are at risk for the long-term complications of COVID, the impact of which we will be learning for years to come. We are worried for our patients and our own children.

We all got excited this spring when cases dropped as more people got vaccinated, but as cases dropped, complacency crept in, and it’s so hard to go back to wearing masks once you’ve been able to stop. Our children can’t afford complacency. They need us to protect them.

What can we do to protect our kids?

• Wear masks, even if you’re vaccinated.

• Get vaccinated. Call us if you have questions, and we can help alleviate your concerns and help you find a place to get a vaccine.

• Get your kids vaccinated. Kids 12 and up are approved for vaccines, and we can give them to you in our office. Just call.

  • We’ll answer any of your questions about this. For what it’s worth, pediatricians are desperate to get their kids vaccinated as soon as possible.

• Keep your child home if they are sick. Get tested so that when they return to school, you know that you are not spreading COVID to other people’s kids too.