TOLEDO, Ohio — The COVID-19 delta variant is driving up case and hospitalization numbers across the state, and locally, children are being impacted now more than ever during the pandemic.
The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department held a news conference Thursday and Health Commissioner Eric Zgodzinski said his greatest concern is the number of children getting infected. He said five pediatric patients have been hospitalized with COVID-19 in the county in the last four days.
"In the last 30 - 60 days, we had maybe one or two days with a kid admitted," Zgodzinski said. "We've never seen a string of four or five days where we admitted a child."
In a 14-day span from Aug. 24 to Sept. 6, 570 children tested positive for COVID-19. Two-hundred and ninety-three were between 12 -18 years old, 212 were between 5 - 11 and 65 were 4 and younger.
There were 172 pediatric cases in the previous 14-day span.
Zgodzinski was joined by pediatrician Dr. Jennifer DeLucia, who said she has seen many more children not only contract COVID-19, but get sick from the virus.
"The main thing we're seeing is there are more children sick with COVID and getting hospitalized than at any other time in this pandemic," DeLucia said. "This is really concerning. Our hospitals don't actually release numbers, but we do know 77.1% of pediatric ICU beds are occupied. That's extremely unusual."
Northwest Ohio has seen several large events in the last couple of weeks with multiple concerts, county fairs and the Solheim Cup. Zgodzinski said any of these types of events could contribute to a rise in cases.
"Any large-scale event where you are packed in tight like a rock concert, that is our concern," he said. "I think any of these could be spreader events. Whether that's Solheim or a football game. We'll see in the next seven days."
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Delta variant in Ohio
The COVID-19 delta variant continues to drive up case counts and hospitalizations in Ohio.
The state reported 3,147 patients in the hospital with COVID-19 Wednesday, the most since Jan. 22. Of those, 541 patients are on ventilators, also the most since Jan. 22.
There were 457 new hospitalizations reported, the highest one-day total since Jan. 12.
On Wednesday, 6,823 new cases were reported. That figure is above the 21-day average, but was the second straight day with fewer cases than the week prior.
Possible surge from large events, back to school
WTOL 11 spoke with Zgodzinski on Wednesday on the heels of the Solheim Cup at Inverness Club and school districts bringing children back into the classroom. He said it's too soon to know if Lucas County will see a COVID-19 spike, but wouldn't rule it out.
"It is definitely a possibility," he said. "I'm not gonna say no. I'm not gonna say yes. Again, it all depends on a lot of variables. We talked about being outside and which way is the wind blowing. How fast is it blowing? How close were people?"
The Solheim Cup was the biggest event in decades in Toledo, bringing over 100,000 people to the city.
Zgodzinski said there hasn't been a noticeable local uptick in cases from back to school season. However, the Ohio Hospital Association reports an 80% increase in hospital patients who are under 17 in the last week.