DETROIT – There continues to be encouraging news in the battle against COVID, with the numbers of new cases down 35% in a week.
The CDC is very concerned that there has been an increase in the number of teenagers with COVID who have been hospitalized.
Vaccinations have had an incredible impact on adults and dramatically decreased the number of cases and hospitalizations. There has been a very clear shift in who is getting sick.
In May, 24% of all new cases were in young people -- mostly teenagers. Some of those teenagers are getting very sick. A CDC report shows an increase in the number of young people hospitalized with COVID this spring.
In the first three months of the year, nearly one-third of those age 12 to 17 hospitalized with COVID needed to be admitted to the intensive care unit. Out of those, 5% required a ventilator. About 70% of those hospitalized had at least one underlying medical condition, the most common being obesity. Nearly 30% were completely healthy before having COVID.
About 24% of kids ages 12 to 17 have now received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Health officials said for teens to return to a more normal life, they need to get vaccinated.
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