Citing the alarming rate at which children are requiring hospitalization due to covid-19, the SC Children’s Hospital Collaborative is providing a daily report.

It will show the number of hospitalized children (ages up to 17) with covid-19, the number of those children requiring ICU care, and the number on ventilators.

The organization also is calling for state leaders to do everything “in their power to protect children by implementing evidence-based strategies including universal masking in schools for children and vaccination for eligible children.”

The SC Department of Health and Environmental Control applauds these initiatives from the SCCHC and has similarly called for leaders across the state to be allowed to require masks and urged all residents age 12 and older to get vaccinated.

“We appreciate how seriously the SCCHC is taking this issue and echo their concerns about how COVID is affecting our children,” said Dr. Brannon Traxler, DHEC Public Health Director. “This virus has taken the lives of more than 11,000 South Carolinians and is now more than ever hurting innocent children.”