Baby Junior is only two months old and has a serious case of Covid-19.

`I saw the doctors and nurses walking around the room with the ventilator, then they pulled out the endotracheal tube and I started to lose control. There was nothing I could say, nothing I could do to make things better. Everything was numb.

This scene has continuously occurred over the past month at New Orleans Children’s Hospital, where the intensive care unit (ICU) is crowded with children with Covid-19.

`We used to think ‘lucky the virus didn’t spread to children, no one could endure this’. Now fast forward to the present, the disease has found its way to children,` said Mark Melancon, a long-time nurse.

According to Mr. Melancon, before the summer, the hospital only treated about one to two pediatric Covid-19 patients at the same time.

Due to the Delta variant, children’s hospitals in the US receive more children with Covid-19.

Louisiana is the most worrisome area.

Catherine Perrilloux’s two-month-old son Junior is on a ventilator due to Covid-19, August 2021.

Scientists say most children with Covid-19 have only mild symptoms.

Theresa Sokol, Louisiana’s top epidemiologist, said that people under 18 years old have the highest nCoV positivity rate in the state, accounting for a significant portion of transmission cases, many cases of which may not be detected.

`Days passed with questions swirling: ‘We don’t have enough hospital beds, how can we accommodate pediatric patients and get more beds available?’` said Devon H. Relle, a nurse at New Children’s Hospital.

The hospital also welcomed patients infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) earlier than usual.

The Covid-19 wave at Children’s Hospital became more intense this month.

Nurse Anne Barylick, assigned to receive patients at the emergency department, shared: `Covid-19 has now become such a common disease that it seems you don’t need direct contact (to get it), because it is in

Dr. Mark W. Kline, the hospital’s chief medical officer, said crowding threatens the health care of children in the area.

Nurse Barylick was deployed to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

`I have never seen the whole department look so tired or sad,` shared Adele K. Evans, head of the intubation team.

According to nurse Barylick, it is difficult to predict which of the Covid-19 patients will recover.

`I don’t want any child to get sick, because I can’t guarantee that your child won’t have any problems. But according to general data, they recover well,` she said.

The weakest Covid-19 patients have symptoms as severe as adults.

`Honestly, you cannot show them (the patient’s family) that this is a situation where many things are unclear. You have to show confidence,` nurse Melancon shared.

Medical staff in the intensive care unit of Children’s Hospital New Orleans, August 2021.

Doctors said Covid-19 has changed the way pediatric patients are coordinated.

According to medical staff, the reason children are infected with nCoV is very simple: parents, relatives and friends have not been vaccinated and do not wear masks.

`I have to compromise with people who don’t do what they should do. While these kids have to suffer. It’s not that I accept it, but if I get too angry, I’ll probably go everywhere.`

`I can’t tell them, ‘Why don’t you quarantine your child,’` he continued.

Down in the hospital lobby, everyone spread the good news: Junior’s condition had improved.

A day later, Ms. Perrilloux and her husband, newly vaccinated, returned to the hospital.

Last week, Perrilloux ate and slept in his son’s room.

At 8:00 a.m. on August 21, the hospital announced that the boy could be extubated and switched to oxygen.

`It’s okay, it’s okay,` Perrilloux gently told his child.