Respiratory infections surge among U.S. children while less than half adults wear masks

A dog sculpture with a face mask is seen outside a hospital in New York, the United States, Sept. 6, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

NEW YORK, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Children's hospitals across the United States are overwhelmed amid a surge of respiratory infections with staff shortage as the worst problem, a CNN report said in the weekend.

Many hospitals have empty beds, but not the people to care for the kid patients, the report said.

"We're extremely overwhelmed ... We're doing the best that we can to try to use the resources that we have, expand where we have capacity to expand and serve the most vulnerable kids," the report said, citing a doctor at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island.

According to CNN data, about 80 percent of pediatric hospital beds across the United States are occupied, but it's much worse in certain areas such as Rhode Island, where the beds are 99 percent occupied.

Seasonal respiratory viruses fill children's hospitals every year, but the number of beds that are full now is well above the average, the report added.

A girl has her temperature measured at a COVID-19 vaccination site in Times Square, New York, the United States, on June 22, 2022. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

While U.S. pediatric hospitals are overwhelmed, a remarkable number of U.S. adults are reported not wearing masks in doors in public spaces, a behavior which might help the virus spread.

According to new data from the Forbes Health-Ipsos Monthly Health Tracker, 25 percent of the 1,120 U.S. adults surveyed on Oct. 25 and 26, 2022, say they rarely wear a mask indoors when in public, and 23 percent say they never do.

However, guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that staying up to date on one's vaccines and wearing a mask can help prevent serious illness and also help ease the strain on the U.S. health care system.