The number of children admitted to hospitals with Covid-19 is on the rise throughout the country, particularly as the extremely contagious Omicron version of the coronavirus spreads.
The number of children admitted to hospitals with Covid-19 is on the rise throughout the country, particularly as the extremely contagious omicron version of the coronavirus spreads.
The Omicron-Fueled Surge Towards Children
The Omicron strain of COVID-19 is placing youngsters in the hospital at near record rates in the United States. Experts also deplore the fact that the majority of children are unvaccinated. According to an NBC News investigation, at least nine states, including Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, as well as Washington, D.C., have recorded record levels of Covid-19 related pediatric hospitalizations. If they had to be hospitalized for other, unconnected reasons, some of those youngsters were determined to be Covid-19 positive via standardized testing.
However, many people have been admitted to hospitals as a result of Covid-19 problems. Pediatric infectious disease experts on the front lines treating children infected with the coronavirus are frustrated by the rise in hospitalizations.
Children’s Hospital New Orleans’ physician-in-chief, According to Dr. Mark Kline, 14 children were unwell enough with Covid-19 were admitted to his hospital, with three of them being admitted to the critical care unit. In addition, the three youngsters are all under the age of two. The youngest is just an eight-week-old baby.
The American Academy of Pediatrics reported a significant increase in pediatric Covid-19 cases among US children are extremely high and increasing on Monday. During the week of December 23, at least 325,340 cases were recorded, compared to 198,551 cases during the week of December 16. While major Covid-19 sickness in younger children is still uncommon, the sheer volume of new instances concerns clinicians.
The Unvaccinated Children
Doctors indicate that the great majority of children admitted to hospitals with Covid-19 are unvaccinated, either because they are too young to be eligible or because their parents refuse to vaccinate them.
During the peak of the delta variant’s expansion last summer, Kline performed his study. Although some research implies that the Omicron form causes lesser sickness overall, Kline believes that the sheer quantity of omicron cases will certainly result in more hospitalizations.
Common Covid-19 Symptoms Warning Signs for Children
According to DCD, SARS-CoV-2 seems to have a similar incubation time in infants and adults, ranging from 2 to 14 days with an average of 6 days. Dr. Amy Edwards Signs to look out for, according to UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, include:
- Trouble breathing.
- Dehydration.
- Fever
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Cough
- Nasal congestion or rhinorrhea
- New loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Abdominal pain
- Diarrhea
- Nausea or vomiting
- Poor appetite or poor feeding
“As soon as you’re having trouble getting them to drink, their diapers are drying up, they’re not going to the bathroom as much, and they appear to be having a harder time breathing, we want to get them assessed,” Edwards said.
