Children are different in that they don t live in a bubble, said Henderson, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics Mississippi Chapter. They have siblings and parents that they have to interact with, so when you see a pediatric coronavirus case, you re likely to see multiple (infections).
Infections will continue to multiply
With the delta variant, infections will only continue to multiply if students, regardless of vaccination status, go to school mask-free. It is about 50% more contagious than the alpha variant, and has a 50% greater transmissibility rate than the original COVID-19 strain, according to Yale Medicine.
In the spring, if a student was infected with the alpha variant, they may have given it to one or two classmates, Oxford pediatrician Tanya Fitts said. But a student infected with the delta variant will transmit the virus to a large portion of classmates.