The Delta Wave Is Tough on Kids, But Deadly for the Middle-Aged
Children still make up a tiny share of U.S. Covid deaths, and fatalities among the elderly are declining, but other adults have been hit hard this spring and summer.
The delta variant is weighing on the middled aged.
Photographer: Paul Ratje/AFP
A lot of kids have been getting Covid-19 in the U.S. this summer, thanks to the more-transmissible delta variant, the full return to in-person schooling and the unvaccinated status of virtually every American under 12. Those under 18 accounted for 28.9% of reported Covid cases in the first week of September, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than their 22.2% share of the population and much more than their 15.5% share of cumulative cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
Happily, though, children still seem to be accounting for a tiny share of Covid deaths: