Rise In Child COVID Cases Alarming Middletown Officials

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Middletown is now seeing a sharp uptick in COVID cases in children.

And it's scaring Township officials.

"Back in March and April, we saw virtually no cases involving children," said Middletown Township Administrator Tony Mercantante in this public address to the Board of Education Wednesday night. "Just since Nov. 1 until today we have 11 cases in children four and under. That's ... that's significant."

The health status of those young children, such as whether they are currently hospitalized, is unknown.

But Mercantante also revealed that a baby in Middletown has it; a Middletown young adult is currently in the hospital with COVID.

"We now know there are cases among very young children. We had a case just this morning of someone 18 months old who is now positive," said Mercantante at the Wednesday night meeting. "We have a young adult in town who is in the hospital right now with COVID. So, it can happen. And it can be a serious issue even for youngsters. I don't think any of us want our children or grandchildren to be one of those who winds up in the hospital with COVID, especially when it was probably avoidable."

"Twenty percent of cases since Nov. 1 are people 19 and under. Fifty eight percent are 44 and under," he said. "The numbers are a little scary, in the past week in particular."

Middletown is actually now seeing higher case numbers than it did even last April, which was the worst of the virus.

"We had 43 cases Wednesday, the highest number Middletown has ever recorded in a single day," said Mercantante. "We never thought we would see case numbers that are higher than we saw in the spring, but the fact is we are. It's clear the rate of transmission is increasing in the community."

Middletown, the biggest town in Monmouth County, is the number one town in the county for coronavirus, meaning Middletown has the most residents who've contracted coronavirus since the pandemic began (1,448 total cases since March). Middletown does not have the most cases per population, however.

"If just means we have more people here to get infected," said Mercantante.

Middletown is not just concerned about its children. The concern — and why Middletown has closed several schools and ended all high school sports — is that younger people will come home and spread it to older loved ones.

"We are going to see an increase in our older population in the coming weeks," he predicted. "The concern is they are coming home to older family members. In December and January we will still see very high numbers. A vaccine won't help by December or January."

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