It’s a troubling reality for parents in the Sunshine State – Florida has one of the top five highest numbers of pediatric cases in country.

Cases of COVID-19 in children have nearly doubled over the last two months.

These are some of the numbers as of February 25, according to the Florida Department of Health, which breaks out the data by county.

Statewide:

• Dec 18 - 113,068
• Feb 25 - 208,020 

Hillsborough County:

• Dec 18 - 6,829 
• Feb 25 - 12,464 

Orange County: 

• Dec 18 - 6,405
• Feb 25 - 12,466

You can see the full report here.

As the number of cases keeps climbing, pharmaceutical companies are expanding their vaccine trials for pediatric patients.

“We first looked into kids and COVID numbers back in mid-December. As you can see, across the state and in areas like Hillsborough and Orange County, those case numbers have nearly doubled in two months,” Dr. Christina Canody, medical director of Baycare Pediatric Service Line said.

She explained that “it’s been tried in adults already. So if anything, kids immune systems work better.”

Back in December, Pfizer was the only manufacturer conducting a trial for children ages 12-17. That data is expected by early Summer.

Pfizer plans to do another trial for ages 5 - 11 in the second quarter of 2021 and hopes to extend the trial later this year to children under five.

AstraZeneca and Moderna have since gotten on board with their trials.

Dr. Canody says there will still be some questions.

“What is the benefit? What is the risk? And should the dose be the same?” she said.

Even though the number of pediatric cases in Florida have gone up, the hospitalization rates for kids with COVID are improving.

“We’re definitely on the downhill side of that which is great to say, and I think it’s a combination of decreased community spread and we’re seeing the vaccination rates come up. We also have a lot of people immune to it at this point,” Dr. Canody said.

However, she warns that kids still need to be careful.

“The other part that came into being was that after a COVID increase, we do see an increased risk of the multi-system inflammatory syndrome in kids,” she said.

Symptoms of MIS-C can include fevers, vomiting, rash, and swelling – along with more serious symptoms.

“It has heart effects. They can have inflammation of the blood vessels surrounding the heart. They can go into congestive heart failure,” she said.

That’s why when it comes to stopping the spread and reducing risks, doctors are continuing to push for pediatric trials.

“The one thing we have to identify with COVID is, we’re seeking the same benefits we see with flu. We’re not going to have complete eradication of the virus, but what we want to see are the severe cases of those causing lasting effects or death are really reduced,” she said.