reporter: his parents think he got the virus at school. donovan has asthma, and had been wearing a mask, but they say other students did not. the school failed us it s a lot for an 11-year-old to go through. reporter: severe illness and death in children from covid-19 is extremely rare. of nearly 615,000 covid deaths nationwide, just 361 have been people under the age of 18. but tonight donovan s parents with this warning. i would never thought it got to my son, but he is human take precaution by wearing your mask and getting this vaccination. ellison, mississippi has one of the lowest vaccination rates. the doctors you spoke to say that s the primary problem. yeah, that s right, lester among older mississippians who have higher rates of vaccination, covid cases are down it s the younger population they re particularly worried about. lester all right, ellison barber, thank you. we re tracking
news this is ellison barber tonight we re inside this parking garage, now a field hospital were you expecting to need something like this summer? no. one of two just opened at the university of mississippi medical center this one is funded and staffed by samaritan s purse. 32 beds, all of them for covid patients in need of critical care. you think they ll be full by the end of the evening? probably not all of them by the end of the evening because it takes time to accept every one of them. but, you know, by the end of the week. reporter: and steps away, new fears that the state s only children s hospital, 28 kids are currently hospitalized, 8 in the icu. we re seeing kids who are more ill frequently with severe covid, even children who have not had previous underlying illnesses. reporter: donovan evans is 11 years old. he has covid-19, and on monday he was admitted to children s of mississippi next month he ll be old enough september the 26th will be his birthday