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UNDATED (AP) – St. Louis area health leaders are asking adults to wear masks and get the COVID-19 vaccine to protect children as hospitals report admitting more young patients with the disease, including some in intensive care. Spring Schmidt, deputy director of the St. Louis County health department, said Wednesday about one in five current total cases in county hospitals has been people under the age of 19. Schmidt said the delta variant causing most of the current cases is as transmissible in children as it is in adults, unlike the alpha variant that drove most cases last year. “It is true that they do not often experience as many of the severe negative outcomes, such as hospitalization or mortality (as adults),” Schmidt said. “However, that does not mean that we do not currently have children who are experiencing those outcomes … Which is why we think children require the additional protection of our entire community.”

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