pandemic. still causing major problems for many americans. new cases are skyrocketing. hospitals are getting overwhelmed once again. the department of health and human services says nearly a quarter of u.s. hospitals are now reporting critical staffing shortages, and it couldn t come at a worst time. hospitalizations are fast approaching record levels set nearly a year ago. more concerning, the number of children under 5 still unable to get a vaccine now at its highest level of infections since the pandemic began two yearsing of the right now according to the cdc, only 53% of kids ages 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated while only 25% of kids 5 to 11 have at least one shot. cnn s natasha chen is in los angeles where hospitalizations among children are rising at an alarming rate, natasha. what are you hearing? reporter: yeah, fred. the hospitalizations at children s hospital l.a.
positive cases of covid using those baseline tests which means that our schools and classrooms will be significantly safer come tuesday. reporter: and that s 50,000 cases out of more than half a million. students, more than 70,000 employees. in addition, they anticipate there could be a lot of staff, you know, not able to come into the buildings because of positive cases so they have four thousand certified professionals ready to come in and fill those rolls in case people are in quarantine. this system of protections, including universal masking, 100% employee vaccination and now about 90% of their students 12 and older vaccinated, has really helped this district keep every campus open throughout this academic year, they haven t had a single school go virtual so they re confident in this system. now, as you mentioned, the surge is very serious right now. children s hospital l.a. did tell me they re seeing more than