It’s not just unvaccinated adults who’ve ditched their face masks who are being hit hard by the Delta COVID-19 variant’s rapid spread. Houston’s Texas Children’s Hospital has also seen a disconcerting uptick in the number of sick kids laid low by Delta in recent weeks.

Despite the popular misconception that children who get COVID-19 never have severe symptoms and can easily shake the disease, in some instances, kids admitted to Texas Children’s with the coronavirus have landed in intensive care. Some have even been placed on ventilators.

Out of all the kids who show up to Texas Children’s concerned they may have COVID-19, “Currently, roughly 10 percent of those children who test positive do require hospitalization,” said Dr. Jim Versalovic, Pathologist-in-Chief and Interim Pediatrician-in-Chief at Texas Children’s Hospital, “and roughly one-third of those may require critical care.”

Among those children who need critical care, “some have required ventilator support,” Versalovic told the Houston Press. “We have seen severe cases of COVID pneumonia and acute respiratory distress in children. And we certainly have used ventilators when appropriate, selectively.”

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