Baltimore Sun Print News
Maryland hospital beds designated for children are filling up, with COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses largely to blame. As schools reopen with mask requirements that vary from county to county, the situation could escalate and cripple the health care system, hospital officials and medical professionals say.
Maryland has not experienced the devastation of some Southern states, and the number of COVID-19 cases among children has not surpassed the winter and spring peaks. But with cases of respiratory syncytial virus, called RSV, on the rise, and with more children getting inpatient treatment for COVID-19 than during previous waves of the coronavirus pandemic, Maryland officials said the capacity to care for kids could be tested this fall and winter.