BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD)- The number of children testing positive for COVID-19 is increasing like never before.

According to the Louisiana Department of Health, in the past week there have been over 26,000 news cases of COVID-19 in the age group of five to seventeen.

Latorrise Thomas is a mother of four who works at a hospital in Baton Rouge. She knows firsthand how dangerous the fourth surge is. She is now worried about her son returning to the classroom. 

“He doesn’t wear a mask very well,” Thomas said. “I’m concerned. I have kids, that’s scary.”

Other parents believe their young ones are well protected from the spread.

“I’m vaccinated and my wife is vaccinated so we’re really not concerned,” said Daniel Granthem’s father. “I hope they don’t have to wear masks, they constantly are touching their face.”

As of Thursday Our Lady of the Lake Children’s has 11 COVID patients admitted, six of them are in the ICU.

“This is something we have not seen before,” said Dr. Catherine O’Neal, Infection and Disease for Our Lady of the Lake.

Ochsner is also seeing more children testing positive for the virus.

“Over the last week we have seen 21.4% that is up 16 percent from last week,” said Dr. Katherine Baumgarten, medical director for infection and disease for Ochsner.

According to Baumgarten children are most likely exposed to COVID at home.

Both doctors agree safety for children starts at home.

“We need to protect our kids by continuing to increase vaccination,” said Baumgarten.

Information on the latest COVID-19 trends and vaccine is available here.