COVID-19 vaccinations up across the U.S., but case numbers, hospitalizations continue to rise

The White House said COVID-19 vaccination rates are up, but so are case numbers, and the number of children testing positive is also increasing.

Unvaccinated people continue to drive the latest surge.

North Texas hospitals admitted another 102 COVID-19 patients Thursday after a slight decline on Wednesday.

There was some encouraging news on the vaccination front Wednesday, as 1.1 million COVID shots were administered. That's the highest number since July 3.

The vaccination rate among adolescents is growing faster than any other age group.

But unfortunately, the seven-day average shows the number of new COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are up nationwide.

So far this month,12.5 million first doses of the COVID vaccine have been administered nationwide. That's two million more than in all of July.

There have been 50% of kids ages 12 to 17 who have now gotten at least one shot.

This picture taken on November 17, 2020 shows a syringe and a bottle reading "Vaccine Covid-19". - According to the World Health Organization, some 42 "candidate vaccines" against the novel coronavirus Covid-19 are undergoing clinical trials on Novem

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Public health experts are encouraged by the progress, but discouraged by the continuing increase in daily cases.

"Our seven-day average is at about 142,006 new cases per day. This represents an increase of nearly 3% from the prior seven-day average," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.

Dr. Walensky said COVID hospitalizations and deaths are also up from last week.

On Thursday, the Children's Hospital Association, which represents 220 children's hospitals nationwide, sent an urgent letter to President Joe Biden.

The association is worried about running out of pediatric beds. 

"Certainly, I mean, we are seeing that at every local county," Dr. Diego Hijano said.

Dr. Hijano is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis, where, as of Friday, there are two staffed pediatric ICU beds in the region. Just like here in North Texas COVID and RSV infections are driving hospitalizations.

"It has been really, really hard, as we open our schools, to see interruptions because of children tested positive and children being sent home because of an exposure," Dr. Hijano said.

Texas is reporting more than 14,000 public school students tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week.

There wasn't a week above 10,500 last school year.

"Yeah, that's been very concerning. And we're seeing that volume throughout the system," said Dr. Seth Kaplan, president of the Texas Pediatric Society.

The Frisco-based pediatrician said he’s worried about children who are going to school and activities while sick, which makes it more difficult to break the chain of infections. 

"Our primary care offices are busier than we have ever been. Our urgent care is in our emergency rooms are extremely busy and unfortunately, the hospitals are filling," Dr. Kaplan added.

The CDC reiterated Friday the importance of school districts implementing a multi-layered approach to fighting COVID, including vaccinations, masking, and social distancing.

"Really, those are measures that are proven to mitigate COVID-19," Dr. Hijano said. 

Friday, the city of Dallas announced it will offer a week of free vacation for employees who are fully vaccinated by September 1.

Meanwhile, Dallas Fire-Rescue has started mandatory rapid testing as COVID cases among firefighters are on the rise.