Doctors now say they are seeing the biggest spike in coronavirus cases among children and teenagers.
According to the Texas Department of Health State Services, 2,996 COVID-19 positive student cases were reported at Texas public schools for the week ending November 1.
That figure was 3,212 the week prior, more than double the total of 1,554 from the week of September 20.
"Over the past month especially, we have seen consistently increasing rates of transmission and that's reflected in adults and children," said Cook Children's pediatric and infectious disease physician Dr. Nicholas Rister.
As of Monday morning, Cook Children’s had tested 44,991 children for COVID-19 and 2,572 have been positive.
The hospital reported three COVID-19 patients in the hospital.
"Those letters going home from the school about someone having COVID are going to go up over the next month and hopefully, schools can manage that," said Rister.
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He estimated that most of the transmission among children isn't happening in the classroom, where schools have done what they can to limit COVID-19 spread.
Instead, he believes, it's happening at home, on sports teams or family gatherings.
When parents do receive notice of yet another case at their child's school, he encourages them to consider who's most at risk at home and have a back-up plan, if in-person schooling isn't an option.
"Not every family is the same. There may be families out there with folks that are high risk if they have COVID," said Rister.
"You may have to re-evaluate how you're going to deal with school, whether your child will go and what level of risk you're willing to accept."
