MADISON, WI (WTAQ) — Wisconsin Health Officials say confirmed COVID-19 cases among children under 18, especially those in ages 9-13, continue to grow.
Department of Health Services secretary-designee Karen Timberlake says that means kids should wear masks and get vaccinated if able.
“Kids live in families and families live in communities,” Timberlake said. “When kids get sick from COVID-19, they can spread it to others who may not be vaccinated.”
Vaccines are available for kids 12 and older.
While cases have been growing among Wisconsin children, deaths have not. State data shows that 0% of the state’s 7,876 deaths linked to COVID-19 have occurred in people under the age of 19.
That doesn’t mean that the pandemic isn’t having a deadly impact on children.
According to numbers released by the Milwaukee County Examiner’s office on Twitter, 60% of child suicides in that county were linked to COVID-19 social isolation and the virtual learning that dominated last school year.
Since March of 2020 in Milwaukee County, 60 percent of child suicides cited virtual learning as stressors in their life. Ages were 12 – 17.
— Medical Examiner (@mkemedexamine) August 31, 2021
Anxiety and depression has also doubled among children, according to a study.
Timberlake was confronted with those statistics Wednesday.
“It’s important for us to think about the risk to different groups,” Timberlake told reporters. “Not only from social isolation, but also from COVID-19…the question is really how do we balance those risks and keep our kids safe while also keeping adults and seniors in particular [safe].”
Timberlake also warned that some children have developed a condition called multisystem inflammatory syndrome after having COVID-19. According to research, multisystem inflammatory syndrome incidence among children exposed to COVID-19 was 316 per million COVID-19 infections in persons younger than 21.
On Wednesday, the seven-day average of new cases fell slightly to 2,857, reporting 2,723 new cases on Tuesday.
There were 19 deaths reported on Tuesday, with the seven-day average at 12.
Since the onset of the pandemic, there have been 707,074 total cases and 7,876 deaths in Wisconsin.
As of Wednesday, 56.3% of the population (3,280,843 people) have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 53.1% (3,093,777) have completed their vaccine series.
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