Florida clamps down on information as COVID-19 cases rise among children

There were 70,630 new cases of COVID-19 in children reported between Aug. 20 and Sept. 3—and, with limited testing for kids, that may be a significant underestimate of the real number. More than 500,000 U.S. children have now had coronavirus, accounting for nearly 10% of total cases. 

In Florida alone, 10,513 children under 18 have tested positive since schools reopened in person, though the state is working hard to keep detailed data about kids, schools, and COVID-19. Florida’s positive test rate for kids is 14.5%, with schools reopening in person despite overall positive test rates well over the recommended 5% in much of the state.

Duval County, Florida, tried to be transparent with its school coronavirus data, only to have the effort shut down by the state, while in Orange County, the school district started reporting data on its Facebook page after the county health department’s information releases were blocked.

The Florida Department of Health says data will be coming … sometime. “In the coming days or weeks,” supposedly. Parents are left searching for information on which to make their decisions about their children’s schooling, and the information isn’t there.

“I have filed public records requests like we were told, but no one will even fill them,” one Manatee County parent told The Washington Post. “This is outrageous, and I am worried for my teacher friends and our children in Manatee.”

”Our family would have to see some more information on the case numbers, and on mask compliance and social distancing, before we send our kids back,” a Pinellas County parent said.

As with adults, there are significant racial disparities in coronavirus infection and hospitalization. Nationally, “[a] disproportionate number of cases are reported in Black and Hispanic children and in places where there is high poverty,” American Academy of Pediatrics President Dr. Sally Goza said in a news release. “We must work harder to address societal inequities that contribute to these disparities.”

Florida doesn’t break down its infections among children by race and ethnicity, but more than three-quarters of those who’ve gotten Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome have been Black or Hispanic. Among younger adults in Florida, “African-Americans make up 18 percent of Florida’s population but have accounted for 44 percent of deaths.”

We know that COVID-19 numbers are rising among kids, and that it’s hitting Black and Latino kids the hardest. But there is so much we don’t know thanks to the low testing rates for kids and the data-hiding shenanigans of some states and, of course, Team Trump. In this case, what we don’t know literally can kill.

from Daily Kos https://ift.tt/2GICUNn