Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America, but as more people step onto the court, many players also have to step into the doctor's office.

Valley doctors say the issue is two-fold: more people playing naturally leads to more injuries, and while more young people have picked up a paddle, most pickleball players are seniors.

"More folks who are older, maybe they were tennis players, but now because of arthritis and other problems, you have less amount of court to cover with pickleball," said ABC15 Health Insider Dr. Shad Marvasti.

He says older players mean bodies that are more prone to injury. Ankle sprains are among the most common injuries.

"The sudden movements, you're going to one side then pivot suddenly and can twist your ankle," said Dr. Marvasti.

Over-worked shoulders, rotator cuffs, and wrist fractures are common.

"Lose your balance, then fall on your outstretched hand and break it," he said.

Foot problems such as plantar fasciitis can also develop in athletes who've been on the court for a few years.

Dr. Marvasti says prevention is pretty straightforward: lots of stretching before you play.

The doctor suggests stretching your arms across your body, bending down to stretch your hamstrings and calves, and tracing the ABCs with your heel.

He also advises using sports bandages to pre-wrap any area with known injuries like knees or ankles.

Nohelani Graf at KNXV first reported this story.

We all once associated dizziness with too many spins on the park’s mary-go-round, but when you get dizzy spells as an adult, it’s usually a cause for concern. And oddly enough, the term is difficult for doctors to define. “There is no one way to pinpoint what is actually happening anatomically,” says Tamika Henry, M.D., board-certified family physician and founder of Unlimited Health Institute. Some might feel light-headed or nauseous, while others might feel a sense of vertigo, meaning their environment feels like it’s moving. So, when you ask yourself, “Why do I feel dizzy?” the best course of action is to get to the symptoms’ root cause—be it a migraine, ear infection, or something more serious. Dizzy spell causes“Dizziness is one of the most common complaints we receive as neurologists. But what people mean when they say they’re experiencing it is often unclear,” says David Perlmutter M.D., a board-certified neurologist and author of Drop Acid. Dizzy spells often (though they don’t always) occur as a symptom of a larger health issue, and most are rooted in either an inner ear or circulatory problem.Inner ear problems that cause dizziness Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)BPPV is one of the most common causes of vertigo, according to the Mayo Clinic. It’s characterized by a false sense that your surroundings are moving, which is often triggered by sudden movements like sitting up or rolling over in bed. This has to do with a displaced positioning of inner ear crystals that run the balance system and normally inform our brains of our position, says Dr. Perlmutter. Doctors can help reposition the crystals with a series of head movements, or perform surgery if necessary.InfectionBecause the inner ear plays a big role in balance, vestibular neuritis—or infection of the inner ear’s vestibular nerve—can throw it way off.Meniere’s DiseaseDr. Henry says Meniere’s Disease, a buildup of fluid in the inner ear, causes vertigo, along with hearing loss and tinnitus. Migraine“Dizzy spells representing vertigo may occur prior to the onset of a migraine headache, and this is surprisingly common,” says Dr. Perlmutter. “Head pain with dizzy spells as well as nausea and even vomiting are also not unusual.” This is particularly the case for vestibular migraines, which are characterized by dizziness.Circulatory problems that cause dizzinessLow blood pressure“Low blood pressure can be a problem with the circulatory system, resulting in the symptom of dizziness,” says Dr. Henry. Essentially, when there’s a dramatic drop in your numbers, a sense of “lightheadedness” can happen that feels like the room is spinning.StrokeAccording to a 2018 report from the American Heart Association, strokes are the underlying cause of 3% to 5% of emergency room visits spawned by dizziness and vertigo. It can be difficult to diagnose dizziness as such, per the report, so pay attention to other potential symptoms. If you’re also experiencing numbness, confusion, or mobility issues, see a doctor immediately. Other causes of dizziness include medication side effects (such as those from seizure meds, antidepressants, blood pressure meds, or diabetes meds, per Dr. Henry), anxiety, anemia, dehydration, and low blood sugar. “By and large, dizzy spells do not indicate that something serious is occurring,” says Dr. Perlmutter. In vary rare cases, he says a thorough evaluation is recommended to rule out less common, more serious causes like a brain tumor. Dizzy spell symptomsAs previously mentioned, dizzy spells are often the result of another health problem. But there are symptoms often associated with them, Dr. Henry says, including: HeadacheLightheadednessBlurred visionUnsteady gaitFeeling like the room is spinningFeel like you are spinning NauseaVomitingWhen to see a doctor about dizzy spellsIf symptoms of dizziness persist and impact daily living, Dr. Henry recommends seeing a medical provider. Also, if the dizziness is debilitating, or is associated with loss of mobility, an intense headache, numbness in extremities, the inability to speak, trouble walking, and/or acute onset of confusion, seek medical attention right away.

CINCINNATI —

Doctors are working to determine what caused a Buffalo Bills football player to collapse after taking a hit during the Monday night game with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Bills defensive player Damar Hamlin is being treated at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where experts are looking at all possibilities.

“They’re looking at his coronary arteries, looking at his heart musculature, looking at his potential for arrhythmias and whatnot, and seeing if those are the predominant cause,” said the co-director of the sports cardiology center at Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Tamamna Singh. “That will dictate what the treatment strategy will be.”

Singh said what happened during the hit is also a major factor.

“Blows to the chest can also trigger abnormal heart rhythms that can cause cardiac arrest. So, there's a whole host of things that we want to evaluate before we kind of speculate what the cause was in this particular case,” Singh said.

Among the most important part of the treatment was the attention given immediately on the field.

Medical teams used an electronic device known as an AED.

“What it stands for is an automated external defibrillator, meaning if you put the pads on and you don't need to be shocked, it's not going to call for a shock. So, it is truly automated,” said American Heart Association Alyson Poling.

Poling said CPR compressions were also important to circulate oxygen to the brain.

“As an adult, we have a lot of oxygen built up, but if nothing is circulating that oxygen, things will start to die off. So, truly what we call hands only or that compressions on the chest is first and foremost, especially in adults,” Poling said.

Cases of norovirus are climbing in the U.S., according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At the beginning of the year, state health departments reported 25 outbreaks. That's nearly double the amount of outbreaks reported at the beginning of 2022.

While higher than in 2022, the CDC says the latest numbers are still consistent with trends over the last decade. The agency notes that the peak season for norovirus is from December to March.

In late February 2022, norovirus exceeded trends that were seen over the last decade with more than 100 outbreaks reported.

The CDC says anyone can contract norovirus. It's spread by having direct contact with an infected person, consuming contaminated food or water or touching contaminated surfaces and putting your unwashed hands in your mouth.

Symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach pain.

The CDC notes that people usually get better between one to three days.

BELLEVUE, Wa. — Even as they're learning more about defeating COVID-19, doctors are up against another contender.

"When the vaccine came out and we felt everybody felt that the pandemic was ending or going to end soon, but now, you know, another year has dragged on and, and we really don't see the end in sight," said Dr. Radha Agrawal, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Overlake Hospital in Washington State.

The second contender being a pandemic of misinformation, or as the World Health Organization calls is an infodemic: “false or misleading information” that “causes confusion and risk-taking behaviors that can harm health” and “leads to mistrust in health authorities.”

Dr. Agrawal and Dr. Ed Leonard, an infectious disease physician at Overlake, say they are battling misinformation daily in interactions with COVID-19 patients, when they argue about their treatments or don't believe their diagnosis.

"Every day, we're learning something new about the pandemic, and sometimes, what we learn kind of makes what we said yesterday obsolete," said Dr. Leonard, "and so, that kind of leads to a confusion in the public of all the way that you just said yesterday, this now we're doing this."

"They have their mind made up, they've thought about it and they've decided, and they really don't value my input in terms of what they should do," said Dr. Agrawal.

From doctors to hospital leaders, this "infodemic" weighs heavily on the hearts and minds of those in healthcare.

"We see people coming in actually angry when they get diagnosed with COVID because they say COVID, isn't real, you're making it up, you're you're doing this only for profit," said CEO of Scripps Hospital, Chris Van Gorder.

"I've heard some people use the word that we've, in some ways, been villainized, I wouldn't say that. I would say that we've been forgotten," said Dr. Agrawal.

Even with the surgeon general declaring misinformation a significant public health challenge, the pushback from patients continues with no clear solutions of how to drown out the false information regarding COVID-19, leaving healthcare workers to deal with this problem at the patients' bedsides.

"It would be very easy as a provider with our morale and fatigue to kind of snap back and that is the last thing we need to do," said Dr. Leonard.

"You see them every day and you take care of them everyday and they become part of your family and it's hard to kind of hold a grudge in a sense," said Dr. Agrawal.

"I'm still going to take care of you and I'm still going to hope that you do get better," she said.

As year three of the pandemic has begun, these doctors want us to know that they will continue the fight for our lives, against all odds, just like they have done since day one.

"It's really seen patients hoping for that improvement, really hoping for those stories, where we made a difference. That is really what gets us to work every day," said Dr. Agrawal.

CINCINNATI —

Preparation is everything according to health experts as the new variant, omicron, continues to spread across the globe.

The tools we do have, masking, social distancing and getting vaccinated, are what health experts are recommending as we wait to find out more information about omicron and its transmissibility, how sick it makes us and if our current vaccines work effectively against it.

"People panic and what we need to do is focus on another p-word and that is preparation," UC Health's College of Medicine Dr. Lou Edje said.

Karl Hosterman got his booster shot with the Hamilton County Health Department Tuesday afternoon.

"I guess the jury is still out about whether the vaccine is going to work against the variants," Hosterman said.

That's true when it comes to this omicron variant, according to Edje.

As for the delta variant, which is still most widespread in the U.S., she said that the third shot is proven to help.

"We do know that the boosters that we have give you a thirty to 40-fold increase in virus-neutralizing antibodies that is huge," Edje said.

Getting your 5 to 11-year-old's vaccinated is also crucial as we wait to learn more about omicron.

What we have heard this entire pandemic is the way to get out of this thing is by getting everybody vaccinated so as soon as the vaccine became available for our kids we signed up," Alex Linser of Mt. Washington said.

Pediatrician Chris Peltier with Pediatric Associates of Mt Carmel agrees.

"I still have probably a quarter to maybe a third of my practice that's ineligible and can't get vaccinated so we need to protect our youngest patients," Peltier said. "We see less severity of disease in kids so hopefully that would continue with this new variant although we just don’t have experience to say that."

Related video above: National Guard could be called up to help hospitals, New Hampshire governor says

With Michigan's COVID-19 case and hospitalization numbers hovering near all-time highs, the federal government will send doctors, nurses and others to support certain hospitals, the state health department said Wednesday.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had asked for help, and the federal government agreed to "send two medical teams to local hospitals to relieve doctors and nurses as they treat COVID-19 and other patients," Michigan's health department said.

The 44 medical personnel — including doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists — will be split between Dearborn's Beaumont Hospital outside Detroit, and the Spectrum Health System in Grand Rapids, the state health department said.

The teams will arrive next week "and begin treating patients immediately, providing support for the next 30 days," the department said.

"I'm grateful that the federal government has granted our request to provide much-needed relief to the health care personnel who have remained on the front lines of this pandemic," Whitmer said Wednesday.

Michigan is reporting more new cases per capita than any state

Though COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the United States dropped off at the tail end of a summer surge, they've risen over the past few weeks.

Michigan — along with some other states that weren't initially hit as hard as the South in the summer surge — has especially been under pressure.

Michigan recently reported its highest seven-day average of new daily cases for the pandemic, at 8,793 on Nov. 19. As of Thursday, the average was 8,470 a day — still more than double where the average was at the end of October, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

About 54.4% of Michigan's population was fully vaccinated as of Wednesday — tied for 27th among the 50 states for that metric, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of Thursday, Michigan was reporting more new cases per capita over the last week than any other state, with Wisconsin, Minnesota and New Hampshire not far behind, according to JHU data.

The number of COVID-19 patients in Michigan hospitals was 4,104 on Friday, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

That figure has generally risen since mid-July, and could soon rival Michigan's highest number of the pandemic: 4,468 on Nov. 30, 2020.

"Our teams are so burned out and struggling to keep up with the amount of patients coming through the emergency rooms, and the difference now is just the level of their sickness is so much greater in severity," David Claeys, president of Beaumont's Dearborn hospital, told CNN affiliate WXYZ.

Cases are generally rising in the US

Statistics are expected to be distorted over the next few days because many states did not report numbers on Thanksgiving. But as of Wednesday — the day before Thanksgiving — the country averaged 95,758 new COVID-19 cases each day across seven days, according to JHU data.

That's still below the summer 2021 peak of 171,123 daily reached on Sept. 13, but it has generally risen since late October, when the average dipped to near 70,000 a day, according to JHU data.

More than a third — 32,328 — of the country's average of new daily cases as of Wednesday was in the 12 states that the U.S. Census Bureau says comprise the Midwest.

More than 52,900 COVID-19 patients were in U.S. hospitals as of Friday, according to HHS. That's well down from a summer 2021 peak of 103,896 on September 1, but the figure is up from November 9, when it had dipped to around 48,600.

ICU beds are more than three-quarters full around the country, more than one in seven of them for COVID-19 patients, according to HHS.

More people need to get vaccinated, Fauci says

The latest uptick in cases is "not unexpected," as people spend more time inside during the cold-weather season and as immunity wanes, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN on Sunday.

And what happens with COVID-19 in the U.S. over the next couple of months depends on what Americans do, including whether more of the population gets vaccines and booster shots, Fauci told CNN on Friday.

"Right now, we have a tool, a very effective tool," he said Friday. "We have too many people ... who are eligible for vaccination, who are not vaccinated. We've got to get them vaccinated. There's no reason whatsoever not to vaccinate them."

About 59% of the total U.S. population is fully vaccinated, and 69.7% have received at least one dose. Among those eligible — people at least 5 years old — 74.1% received at least one dose, according to the CDC.

But that leaves more than a quarter of the eligible population — about 81 million people — without at least one dose, a CNN analysis of CDC data shows.

Unvaccinated people face a far greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people do, and the gap is even greater in terms of risk of hospitalization or death, according to the CDC.

Unvaccinated people were six times more likely than fully vaccinated people to test positive for COVID-19 and 14 times more likely to die of COVID-19, according to CDC data published Monday.

Fauci on Friday urged adults to get boosters at the recommended interval after full vaccination, saying they increase the level of protection "dramatically."

"You get a booster now, you can get into the winter and have a higher degree of protection," he said. "That's the reason why we're pushing so hard for people to: A) Get vaccinated in the first place if you're not vaccinated; and B) If you have been vaccinated and you're six months or more following an mRNA or two months or more following the J&J, go get your booster. It really is important as we enter into this colder, winter season."

The Biden administration announced Thursday that it will direct $100 million to the National Health Service Corps to help address the health care worker shortage.

Pulled from funding in the American Rescue Plan, the $100 million represents one of the nation’s biggest investments in a program that helps place primary care doctors in communities that have difficulty recruiting and retaining them. It's a five-fold increase from previous years, the Department of Health and Human Services said.

The National Health Service Corps offers loan repayments and scholarships to clinicians in exchange for multiple years of service in areas that have a health care provider shortage.

"Whether you're in rural America, or in a low income part of America, that shouldn't be a reason why you can't access good quality health care," Health Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a phone interview. "And so we want to help states that are going to try to do what they can to keep that public health workforce in those rural communities, those low-income communities, they're where people need them."

The announcement comes after the United States lost 17,500 health care employees in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. With the industry's employment figures now sitting at just under 16 million, the agency reported the country has lost 524,000 health care employees since the start of the pandemic. Job losses in nursing, hospitals and residential care saw the biggest drops in the industry last month.

Losing employees has in turn increased labor costs. Hospitals and other medical facilities have had to sharply increase spending on recruiting and retaining employees, according to a report published last week by Moody's Investors Services. That has led to boosted benefit options and sign-on bonuses that can go well into five figures since the start of the pandemic.

“Covid has basically caused a laser focus on the glaring gaps and dysfunction across the American health care system,” said Tener Veenema, a scholar focused on workforce issues at Johns Hopkins University's Center for Health Security. “Making investments to redistribute health care providers into rural areas, low-resourced areas, is so important because we know how much they are suffering from a lack of access to good health care.”

States will be able to apply for grants until April and the Department of Health and Human Services predicts it will make up to 50 awards as high as $1 million per year over the course of four years.

Participating states won’t have to match funds or share costs in any way to obtain the grants, and they can use 10 percent of the award for administrative costs.

“With these funds, states can design programs that optimize the selection of disciplines and service locations, and tailor the length of service commitments to address the areas of greatest need in their communities,” said Diana Espinosa, the acting administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, which oversees the program. “This investment will make a tremendous impact on access to primary care and addressing health disparities at a critical time.”

The project start date isn't until September 2022, so it won't have an immediate effect on the current labor shortage. It represents, however, the latest push by the Biden administration to address the issue that experts believe will only get worse over the next decade.

President Joe Biden pulled $100 million this year from the American Rescue Plan to support the Medical Reserve Corps, an all-volunteer army of doctors, nurses and medical support teams in hopes of accelerating the pace of Covid-19 vaccinations.

"A hundred-million dollars isn’t going to take care of everybody," Becerra admitted. "But it’s certainly going to go a long way in helping our state partners get resources to those local communities, so they can keep that health care worker there, keep them trained, ready and prepared to keep them healthy."

CINCINNATI —

Doctors said more vaccines could soon be weapons in the fight against COVID-19.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is still being carefully studied at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, but it has just been given authorization in the United Kingdom and officials expect to see applications for emergency use in the United States in the next month or so.

Medical experts said AstraZeneca's vaccine could come just in time.

They believe it will be more than capable of defending people against the latest mutation of COVID-19 and it appears to have few side effects.

"I think we soon are going to have four vaccines that look very effective," Dr. Robert Frenck said.

Frenck, professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, shared words of hope.

He expects an application for emergency use authorization could be weeks away for the Oxford University, AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

It's now authorized in the United Kingdom.

Frenck has been studying the two-dose vaccine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

"For both the Pfizer and Moderna, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the exact same thing for Janssen and Astra-Zeneca, is that the vaccine has shown equal efficacy across the ages, and regardless of your race, regardless of your gender," he said.

Frenck said 502 people in Greater Cincinnati have volunteered in the trial.

He said side effects have ranged from nothing to headache, fatigue and muscle aches and those faded.

As a more infectious variant of COVID-19 has surfaced in the United States, Frenck said viruses normally mutate.

The AstraZeneca vaccine uses a weakened version of the common cold virus and he thinks it will work against the mutation.

"It's not really worrying me that much, as far as that the spike protein is what we're having this target for our vaccine and that still looks pretty much conserved," Frenck said.

AstraZeneca's vaccine is receiving praise for only requiring refrigeration which makes it easier to distribute.

Company leaders have said they believe the vaccine will prove as effective as its rivals.

With the Phase 3 trial nearly complete, Frenck anticipates a safe AstraZeneca vaccine will soon be added to the arsenal to protect you.

"To me the biggest travesty, the biggest horror is that we have vaccines and then people don't get them and then people die that could've been saved," he said.

Frenck expects the Johnson and Johnson Janssen vaccine will also be up for emergency use consideration by mid-to-late January.

It's important to note that during the AstraZeneca trial, there were some dosing issues and it is not clear if that will impact the EUA process.

Frenck said timing for the AstraZeneca vaccine will likely be similar to the other vaccines, with a first vaccine given and a second given about four weeks later.

That's to be seen once federal officials receive an application for emergency use and review the data.

NORMAN, Okla. —

An Oklahoma man was reunited with the doctors who saved his life after going into cardiac arrest.

Christopher Fennell was having dinner while visiting his son in Norman, Oklahoma. And as they were leaving a restaurant, Fennell fell to the ground and went into cardiac arrest, which led to a brain seizure.

"I was basically dead, and they brought me back," he said.

His son is now a junior at the University of Oklahoma and is studying pre-med. He knew exactly what to do to keep his father alive until paramedics arrived.

"The quick action of my son to call 911 and then hand the phone to my wife, who was in shock and started CPR was, I mean, I wouldn’t be here without that," Fennell said.

Fennell was taken to the hospital, where he stayed in the ICU for 10 days.

"Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest does not have a very good prognosis overall," Dr. Archana Gautam said.

Fennell was later sent to rehab, where he was able to get additional treatment and fully recover.

"To see someone physically recover and cognitively recover after a cardiac arrest is rare," said Dr. Lane Tinsley.

Fennell said without the quick medical attention from his son, paramedics and the doctors — he wouldn’t have fully recovered.

"All of these things God put in place, put breadcrumbs down on the ground to get me here, for the great people here to continue my recovery, put me on the road to recovery and get me back in the position I am in today," he said. "I am a walking miracle, but this is not a story about me. This is a story about how God works in the world today."

By now, you’ve probably memorized all the possible ways you can get COVID-19. So if you’re feeling like a bit of an armchair infectious disease expert, you might be wondering how other illnesses in your life spread, like the flu.Sure, you’ve known practically your whole life that good hand hygiene and doing your best to steer clear of people who are sick is a good way to lower your risk of influenza. But how does the flu really spread? Is the flu airborne or not? Here’s what you need to know. What is the flu, again?The flu is a contagious respiratory illness called by influenza viruses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There are two main types of the flu — influenza A and B — and they cause seasonal flu epidemics each year. The flu can cause mild to severe illness, and it can cause people to be hospitalized and even die from the virus. OK, so how does the flu spread?The flu mainly spreads from person to person, and the CDC says that infected people can spread the virus to people up to six feet away. The flu usually spreads through respiratory droplets that emerge when infected people cough, sneeze or talk.Those droplets can then land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or be inhaled into the lungs and make them sick. Less commonly, people can get the flu from touching an infected surface or object and then touching their own mouth, nose, or eyes, the CDC says. Is the flu virus airborne?It can be, but it’s not the primary way the flu is transmitted. An airborne particle is a small particle that can remain suspended in the air for a certain period of time. Respiratory droplets are heavier and therefore fall to the ground pretty quickly after they’re expelled from a person, said Richard Watkins, M.D., an infectious disease physician and professor of internal medicine at the Northeast Ohio Medical University. The CDC says that the flu is largely spread through respiratory droplets. However, it also says airborne transmission can occur, but not over long distances, and not as commonly as via the droplets. “The flu, like many respiratory viruses, has some components of airborne spread and some components of respiratory droplets spread,” explained infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “It is really a continuum.”There are some situations where the flu is more likely to generate aerosols and become airborne, like when a person is intubated in a hospital, Adalja said. But he stresses that this is different from a highly contagious airborne virus like measles, which is primarily spread through the air. William Schaffner, M.D., an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, agrees. “The data would indicate this only happens under certain circumstances,” he said. “The flu is spread overwhelmingly through close personal contact.” However, the flu may be more likely to hover in the air in the winter, when the air is drier, Schaffner points out. “That little bit of fluid that covers the particles evaporates and they’re not as heavy,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons it’s thought that influenza is more common in the winter — the air is drier then.”Will COVID-19 prevention measures protect people from the flu, too?Definitely. “Mask wearing, social distancing, and hand washing are effective prevention methods for flu avoidance,” Watkins said. “Which is why last year we saw a record low number of flu cases.”“Last season, we had almost no flu and all of us were staying home, washing our hands, and wearing masks,” Schaffner said. “It all had a profound effect on reducing the influenza virus.” However, note that the COVID-19 vaccine will not protect you against the flu.What else can you do to stop the spread of the flu?Getting vaccinated against the flu is a must, Adalja said. The flu vaccine has been shown to reduce flu-related illnesses and the risk of complications that can lead to hospitalization and death, the CDC points out. Some other tips from the CDC: Stay away from people who are sick Cover your coughs and sneezes Wash your hands oftenIf you’re high risk for flu complications, Schaffner recommends doing your best to practice social distancing when influenza is circulating in your community. “Maybe rent a movie instead of going to a movie,” he said.

The idea that kids don't get hit hard by COVID-19 is losing steam — in part because of a variant more contagious than any we've seen before.

Since this time last year, more than 45,000 children have been hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of Tuesday, an average of 192 children with COVID-19 were admitted to U.S. hospitals every day over the past week, CDC data shows.

That's a 45.7% increase from the previous week in daily new hospitalizations among COVID-19 patients ages 0 to 17.

While adults debate school mask mandates and whether to vaccinate older kids, the now-dominant delta variant keeps targeting those unvaccinated — including some children too young to get inoculated.

Doctors say it's crucial to protect children against the delta variant — not just to preserve in-person learning and protect their own health but to help prevent even more aggressive variants from emerging.

Child COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are spiking

Since the last school year, a more contagious variant — alpha — has been replaced by an even more contagious variant — delta— as the dominant strain of coronavirus in the U.S.

The delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox, the CDC says. In just two months, delta jumped from 3% to more than 93% of sequenced coronavirus samples in the U.S., according to the agency.

And in just one week, the U.S. had an 84% increase in new COVID-19 cases among children, the American Academy of Pediatrics said.

The 71,726 new pediatric cases from July 22 to 29 marked "a substantial increase" from the previous week, when 39,000 new cases among children were reported, the AAP said.

And with the rise in pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations, it's not just children with preexisting conditions getting hospitalized.

Almost half — 46.4% — of children hospitalized with COVID-19 between March 2020 and June 2021 had no known underlying condition, according to CDC data froms almost 100 U.S. counties.

COVID-19 deaths in children shouldn't be ignored, CDC chief says

While children are far less likely to die from COVID-19 than adults, the deaths are still significant, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.

At least 416 children ages 0 to 18 have died from COVID-19, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

"I think we fall into this flawed thinking of saying that only 400 of these 600,000 deaths from COVID-19 have been in children," Walensky said in July.

"Children are not supposed to die. And so 400 is a huge amount."

The number of COVID-19 deaths among children is more than twice the number of pediatric flu deaths reported by the CDC between 2019-2020, among the worst flu seasons since 2010.

The main reason why COVID-19 is deadlier for children than other infectious diseases is because many children are vaccinated against other diseases, said Dr. James Campbell, professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

"Nobody's dying of polio, nobody's dying of measles in the United States. Nobody's dying of diphtheria," Campbell told CNN last month.

But while children ages 12 to 17 can get a COVID-19 vaccine, millions have not done so.

And it could be several more months before a vaccine is authorized for children under age 12.

Rebecca Calloway's 7-year-old daughter Georgia is one of thousands of young children testing various doses of COVID-19 vaccines to make sure they're safe and effective before they get authorized.

Part of why Calloway enrolled Georgia in the pediatric vaccine trial is because she recently lost her 3-year-old daughter to another unexpected disease — Type 1 diabetes — and doesn't want any more families to lose a child to COVID-19.

While childhood deaths from COVID-19 and Type 1 diabetes are rare, "You don't want to be that statistic," Calloway said.

Protecting kids from COVID-19 is critical to keep them in school in-person

With the highly contagious delta variant, the CDC now recommends students from kindergarten through grade 12 wear masks in school, along with teachers and visitors. The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended masks in schools for everyone over age 2.

"Our children deserve to have full-time, in person, safe learning with prevention measures in place. And that includes masking for everyone in schools," Walensky said.

Some students are returning to schools for the first time in a year. But long-awaited classroom learning can be quickly derailed by an infection or outbreak.

In Atlanta, more than 100 students at Drew Charter School had to quarantine after nine students and five staff members tested positive.

And it doesn't take much for COVID-19 to shut down a school again. Even one case can have a ripple effect on students, faculty and staff.

"We need adults to run schools, and if my adults are sick or needing to quarantine, I don't have adults present to provide the education," said Carlee Simon, superintendent of Alachua County Public Schools in Florida.

The school board voted to require face masks for the first two weeks of school, but Florida's governor has banned mask mandates in schools and threatened to reduce funding to schools that require masks.

And that has the superintendent worried.

"When we have families that don't want to have masks on their child, what they're doing is not only making the higher chance they will have to be quarantined," Simon said.

If a student gets infected, "they will also have other students who did have masks on who would also need to be quarantined."

"Everybody wants to move forward. Nobody wants to have masks forever," Simon said. But "we would like to be able to be safe and have instructional time with our students."

In addition to masks in schools, the CDC recommends layering other strategies such as improved ventilation, physical distancing and testing on a screening basis.

Children can accidentally help spur new variants

Protecting children from getting COVID-19 can help everyone in the long run, doctors say.

As coronavirus keeps spreading, replicating itself in new people, the more chances it has to mutate.

Some mutations can give the virus an advantage, and more aggressive variants can emerge — such as ones that could evade vaccines.

"That's, of course, the concern," Walensky said.

Fully vaccinated people are less likely to get infected with the delta variant.

But unvaccinated people — including unvaccinated children — are more susceptible to infection and can unknowingly help with the creation of new variants, Offit said.

"We're not going to be able to stop this pandemic until we have a significant percentage of the population (fully) vaccinated," he said.

Long COVID and MIS-C can leave lasting impacts

Just like adults, children can be susceptible to "long COVID" — nagging symptoms weeks or months after a coronavirus infection.

"Even for young people who consider their risk of severe COVID to be low, the long-term consequences can be quite serious," Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said this spring.

In some cases, children who start with mild or even no symptoms from COVID-19 end up hospitalized weeks or months later with a condition called MIS-C — multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children.

MIS-C is "a rare but serious condition associated with COVID-19 in which different body parts become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs," the CDC says.

It happens when "the virus induces your body to make an immune response against your own blood vessels" — which can cause inflammation of the blood vessels, said pediatrician Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia.

Often, children with MIS-C don't start off very sick with COVID-19.

"Usually children are picked up incidentally as having (coronavirus). Someone in the family was infected, a friend was infected, so they got a PCR test. And they're found to be positive. ... Then they're fine," Offit told CNN.

"Then a month goes by, and they develop a high fever. And evidence of lung, liver, kidney or heart damage. That's when they come to our hospital."

At least 4,196 cases of MIS-C had been reported between February 2020 and June 2021, including 37 deaths, the CDC said. It said 99% of MIS-C patients had tested positive for coronavirus, and the other 1% had contact with someone with COVID-19.

The median age of patients with MIS-C was 9 years old.

"CDC is working to learn more about why some children and adolescents develop MIS-C after having COVID-19 or contact with someone with COVID-19, while others do not," the CDC says.

"Based on what we know now about MIS-C, the best way you can protect your child is by taking everyday actions to prevent your child and the entire household from getting the virus that causes COVID-19."

The best steps parents can take to protect their children include getting vaccinated and vaccinating children ages 12 and up, Walensky said.

And even if a parent is fully vaccinated, there's a small chance they could catch an asymptomatic breakthrough infection and pass the virus to their children.

That's why it's a good idea for all parents of young children to wear masks in public.

But the best way to protect unvaccinated children, Walensky said, "is to surround them with vaccinated people."

CINCINNATI —

A warning from the top public health official in Ohio said the delta variant has arrived and is spreading. The state needs to prepare.

“Delta is on the doorstep,” said Ohio Department of Health chief medical officer Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff. “It will move rapidly through the unvaccinated population.”

The concern comes because the number of Ohio COVID cases had been dropping for months then that suddenly changed.

“We have seen them not only level off for a few days but actually been an upturn,” Vanderhoff said.

The numbers are still low compared to the height of the pandemic, but Vanderhoff said considering what has happened in other parts of the country, people should be prepared.

“We see what’s happening in other states. We see the trends happening,” said Ohio State Wexner chief clinical officer Dr. Andrew Thomas.

In Springfield, Missouri, the delta variant is being blamed for hospitalizations that increased by 225% in a matter of days.

Indiana and Kentucky are seeing increasing numbers of COVID cases too.

In Northern Kentucky, the most recent weekly case numbers went from 13 to 65 to 103. Tuesday morning, the overnight total was 64.

“Part of the reason we’re here today, is to reinforce with those in our state that have chosen not to get vaccinated, really, they need to rethink their approach,” Thomas said.

Even in areas where the delta variant is the dominant virus, Vanderhoff said, more than 97 percent of those hospitalized have not been vaccinated.

Studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused more people around the globe to experience depression, anxiety and substance abuse. Now, a bipartisan policy center has created a task force to look into those specific issues and is proposing solutions that can help.

“The Bipartisan Policy Center is proposing that we advance the idea of integrating primary care and behavioral health services,” said Dr. Regina Benjamin, a former surgeon with the task force.

Benjamin is a doctor in a small town near Mobile, Alabama. She says in her own practice, she spends a lot of time looking for behavioral health specialists that can take patients in need of mental health care.

Part of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s new suggestions is to expand training to primary care providers so they can handle the treatment for mild to moderate mental health and substance abuse conditions. They also suggest bringing mental health nurses or psychiatrists into the same office as primary care physicians and have mental health providers available to provide care through telehealth.

“It would be so much more helpful if we had an integrated electronic health record that integrated with the psychiatrists or psychologists. Right now, those records don't talk to each other,” Benjamin said.

The Bipartisan Policy Center report also suggests moving to “value-based” care payment structures so doctors aren’t paid just for checking blood pressure but improving it.

The Center also wants to see Medicare coverage of telehealth permanently expanded.

“In the end, basically, this integrated system will improve access to services access to care. It improves the outcomes, it decreases the health disparities, it's cost-effective, it saves the system money and, at the end of the day, it helps us become a more healthy nation.”

The report mentions several states already moving toward physical and mental health care integration, demonstrating positive results and lowering costs through Medicaid.

May 12 is the last day of National Nurses Week, and what a year it has been for them and other first responders who have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even with all the strides that have taken place to fight the virus and with national COVID-19 numbers declining in most states, nurses and doctors say they still find themselves struggling at times.

When asked how they were feeling at this time during the pandemic, nurses and doctors we spoke with replied with the following:

“Sometimes, I feel like I become numb to what’s going on or try to block it out,” said Kara McKee, an ICU nurse at a hospital in Colorado. “I just had a patient’s family member crying and that, for the last year, is what we’ve been dealing with. You’re sitting there and you’re taking care of a patient and you remember something that has happened the last year, and I just get emotional. It’s just hard not to have a breakdown.”

“I cry,” added Kathy Gallegos, another ICU nurse. “It’s OK because, again, we have each other to help us. I remember putting on my N95 mask for the first time in a couple months and just feeling my anxiety start to rise.”

“I think you can’t help but have a little bit of that at times,” said Dr. Adam Barkin, an emergency physician.

“When you can’t do anything as a physician you kind of have to take a step back and say, ‘Well, what did docs do for 2,000 years? What did we all do before we had antibiotics?' And it was, 'We were there,'” added Dr. James Hunt, a critical care physician. “It was that human experience of being there with someone. Caring always, even though we can’t cure.”

Has the vaccine changed how things operate inside the hospital?

“Well, I think yes. I think people have far more comfort,” said Dr. Barkin. “I think that everyone was nervous about any interaction you had with any person; whether it was a patient, a fellow physician, a nurse, because there were so many asymptomatic carriers of COVID and you just didn’t know.”

“I think they’ve improved,” added Gallegos. “It’s just sad when we start getting more of those patients in, but overall, I would say overall I think things have improved. I think it has improved morale in our unit.”

“I think we have a very special bond on our unit and if it weren’t for them, it would have been a more difficult year,” said McKee.

Do you see that light at the end of the tunnel? How does it look now compared to maybe back in December?

“The light? Yeah, I see it,” said Dr. Hunt. “I see it as 70% or so. More, hopefully, as more people are getting vaccinated.”

“We’re hopeful,” added Dr. Barkin. “And I think the vaccines will take us to that next real stage of normalcy which I think we all hope for. As James said, having those conversations is crucial and we’ll get there.”