More than 1,900 children in the U.S. were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Aug. 14 — a record high since the start of the pandemic, CNBC reported.
At the same time, Dallas County's pediatric intensive care units have no beds, CBS News reported.
"In Dallas, we have zero ICU beds left for children," Clay Jenkins, Dallas County judge, said during an Aug. 13 news conference. "That means if your child's in a car wreck, if your child has a congenital heart defect or something and needs an ICU bed, or more likely if they have COVID-19 and need an ICU bed, we don't have one. Your child will wait for another child to die."
Mr. Jenkins added that the 19 counties surrounding Dallas were also out of pediatric ICU beds, and that young patients needing care would likely be transferred outside the state.
"Your child will be CareFlighted to Temple [Okla.,] or Oklahoma City or wherever we can find them a bed, but they won't be getting one here unless one clears, and that's been true for 24 hours," he said.
About 2.4 percent of the nation's current COVID-19 hospitalizations are children, according to data from the American Academy of Pediatrics cited by CNBC. As the highly transmissible delta variant spreads, especially among the unvaccinated population, children under the age of 12 remain ineligible for vaccination.