The number of children with COVID-19 hit a record high in the U.S. on Saturday as the Delta variant continues to wreak havoc on the nation.

According to data from the Department of Health and Services, 1,902 children have tested positive for COVID-19 over just a few weeks. Children make up about 2.4% of the nation's COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Children under 12 are not eligible for the vaccine making them more susceptible to contracting the virus.

The alarming surge in cases comes as roughly a quarter of public school students return to classrooms this week. The spike is raising conversations among school districts as to whether masks should be mandated for students and teachers.

Florida, Texas, and Arizona are among the states to ban schools districts from imposing mask mandates. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has threatened to take away funding from schools that impose mask mandates. Some schools have not complied with state orders and are requiring masks.

“This is not last year’s COVID. This one is worse, and our children are the ones that are going to be affected by it the most,” Sally Goza, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told CNN on Saturday.

The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teacher’s union, recently pledged its support for mandated vaccines. The NEA President Becky Pringle posted on Twitter to "mask up and get vaccinated to protect yourself, your students, and your community."

“Our students under 12 can’t get vaccinated. It’s our responsibility to keep them safe. Keeping them safe means that everyone who can be vaccinated should be vaccinated,” Pringle told CNN.

The American Academy of Pediatrics reported there were 12,000 COVID cases in the first week of July and 96,000 by the first week of August.

Nearly all the hospitalizations for Americans of all ages are unvaccinated people. National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins said on "Fox News Sunday" the unvaccinated are "sitting ducks" against the Delta variant.

"I will be surprised if we don't cross 200,000 cases a day in the next couple of weeks," Collins said. "That's heartbreaking considering we never thought we would never be back in that space again. But here we are with Delta variant, which is so contagious, and this heartbreaking situation where 90 million people are still unvaccinated who are sitting ducks for this virus."

Coronavirus