U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations rise

Airlines continued to cancel more than 1,300 flights nationwide on Thursday due to workers calling in sick with the coronavirus. The shortages track with surges of COVID-19 hospitalizations this week. The average number of confirmed coronavirus hospitalizations per day in the United States was 95,250 for the past seven days, up more than 27,000 from the prior seven days, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The highest hospitalization rates have been in the South and the Midwest, the Department of Health and Human Services reported.

Are kids getting sick? Children were hospitalized in record numbers for the second week in a row. More than 3,100 children were hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 on Wednesday alone, with another 1,300 patients suspected to have the virus. The CDC endorsed Pfizer’s booster shot for children ages 12 through 15 on Wednesday, making 5 million young teenagers eligible for a booster shot immediately.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about how to interpret infection statistics.