‘Doctor’s offices are quite busy’: COVID-19 cases rise as children return to school

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Kids in Savannah-Chatham County Schools haven’t been in school for 3 weeks yet and COVID cases are already in the hundreds.

Pediatricians say now that school is back in session there are more children coming into these rooms at the doctor’s office with COVID.

“Doctor’s offices are quite busy.”

According to COVID data from the Savannah-Chatham County school district, last week 416 students were positive with COVID and 468 students had to quarantine. 101 employees tested positive and 42 had to quarantine.

Dr. Ben Spitalnick at Pediatric Associates of Savannah says there have been a few kids coming in with COVID and the Flu or COVID and RSV. He says it isn’t a surprise to him that cases are so high because there are less COVID protocols.

“We’ve seen a lot of COVID and what we’re seeing is mostly mild symptoms. Symptoms including cold symptoms, runny nose, low grade fever, mild headaches, some sore throats, even in some case diarrhea,” Pediatrician Dr. Ben Spitalnick said.

The two Savannah Chatham schools with the most positive cases are Rice Creek K-8 and Southwest Elementary School with 40 cases. 133 students had to quarantine at Southwest Elementary.

Dr. Spitalnick says the younger the child, the less likely they are vaccinated.

“I wish we were getting more vaccines in to arms. we’ve seen a very high vaccination rate in the teenagers, moderate in the younger kids and a very low vaccination rate across the board for COVID in our babies.”

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