COVID-19 Cases Increase at Cook Children’s; COVID-19 Vaccine Available
By Eline deBruijn Wiggins
As people gather and travel during the summer months, the COVID positivity rate continues to rise. The seven-day average positivity rate reported at Cook Children’s Health Care System is 21% as of Tuesday.
Many Cook Children’s primary care offices are offering COVID vaccines. Patient families can check MyChart for online scheduling options or call their pediatrician’s offices.
In June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration cleared the way for children 6 months to 5 years old to get the COVID-19 vaccine. 
Our health care providers and pediatricians at Cook Children’s strongly recommend that parents get their children vaccinated. Vaccines are the best way to prevent serious illness in people of all ages, including children.
The COVID positivity rate has slowly increased at Cook Children's.
Rolling seven-day average positivity rate at Cook Children’s:
- May 5 - 3.5%
- May 16 - 3.3%
- June 5 - 8.4%
- June 20 - 10.6%
- July 6 - 21.6%
- July 11 - 24.5%
On July 6, there was one COVID patient in the ICU and two others in non-ICU beds at Cook Children's.
On Wednesday, Tarrant County Public Health moved the community spread level to High after 774 new COVID cases were reported in the county.
Positive cases and hospitalizations are increasing across Texas, according to Texas Health and Human Services.
The biggest thing the community can do to help is to take precautions against COVID-19, including masking indoors, hand washing, social distancing and getting the COVID-19 vaccine and booster if eligible.
Not only will this help prevent COVID-19, but it may also prevent multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), which has continued to affect kids throughout the pandemic.
It’s also important to avoid Cook Children’s urgent cares and emergency department for simple COVID-19 testing. These locations should be used for severe COVID-19 symptoms such as:
- Difficulty breathing
- Difficulty staying hydrated
- High fever for more than four days
If you need a COVID-19 test for your child, please call your pediatrician’s office to schedule an appointment. At-home tests and community testing locations are also great options when available. Tarrant County’s website is a great resource for finding testing locations.
RELATED:
COVID Vaccine Authorized for Young Children (checkupnewsroom.com)
Does My Kid Have Allergies, COVID, a Cold or the Flu? (checkupnewsroom.com)
About Cook Children's
Cook Children’s Health Care System embraces an inspiring Promise – to improve the health of every child through the prevention and treatment of illness, disease and injury. Based in Fort Worth, Texas, we’re proud of our long and rich tradition of serving our community. Our not-for-profit organization is comprised of nine companies, including our Medical Center, Physician Network, Home Health company, Northeast Hospital, Pediatric Surgery Center, Health Plan, Health Services Inc., Child Study Center and Health Foundation. With more than 60 primary, specialty and urgent care locations throughout Texas, families can access our top-ranked specialty programs and network of services to meet the unique needs of their child. For 100 years, we’ve worked to improve the health of children from across our primary service area of Denton, Hood, Johnson, Parker, Tarrant and Wise counties. We combine the art of caring with leading technology and extraordinary collaboration to provide exceptional care for every child. This has earned Cook Children’s a strong, far-reaching reputation with patients traveling from around the country and the globe to receive life-saving pediatric care. For more information, visit cookchildrens.org.
