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U.S. hospital admissions for youngsters with COVID-19 have hit a record high as coronavirus case numbers surge amid the rise of the omicron variant.
Admissions for youngsters sick with the virus increased 66% over the earlier week to a median fee of 378 per day for the week ending Tuesday, in line with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The earlier peak occurred in early September, with a daily average of 342 hospital admissions for children with COVID-19.
The nation, in the meantime, tallied a complete of greater than 550,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, in line with the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Useful resource Middle. The earlier peak was simply over 294,000 in January 2021.
A daily average of 355,990 COVID infections in individuals of all ages was reported final week.
Whereas the raging omicron variant doesn’t seem like extra extreme than earlier variants, together with amongst youngsters, the sheer quantity of instances means extra individuals expertise critical issues.
Tens of 1000’s of kids have been hospitalized with the coronavirus in the previous few months alone. More than 1,000 children have died from COVID-19 for the reason that pandemic started.
“It’s just so heartbreaking,” Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious illness knowledgeable at Youngsters’s Hospital of Philadelphia, instructed The Related Press on Thursday. “It was arduous sufficient final 12 months, however now you understand that you’ve a strategy to forestall all this” with vaccinations, he mentioned.
Offit added that not one of the vaccine-eligible youngsters admitted to his hospital with COVID-19 final week had truly been vaccinated. “They’re struggling to breathe, coughing, coughing, coughing,” Offit mentioned. “A handful had been despatched to the ICU to be sedated … mother and father are crying.”
Kristin Moffitt, an infectious illness doctor at Boston Youngsters’s Hospital, instructed Bloomberg: “We’re going to really feel this surge for weeks to come.”
Vaccinations solely lately grew to become out there for youngsters ages 5 and up. Solely 15% of kids ages 5 to 11 are absolutely vaccinated, and solely 53% of these ages 12 to 17 are, in line with the CDC.
And whereas youngsters 5 and older can get the Pfizer vaccine, they’re still not eligible for boosters, which give vital safety towards omicron.
Nearly all of youngsters hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated, in line with the CDC. Unvaccinated adolescents 12 to 17 years outdated had been 10 instances extra more likely to be hospitalized than their absolutely vaccinated friends.
People ages 18 to 29, who additionally are inclined to have decrease vaccination charges than older Individuals, are additionally being admitted to the hospital for COVID in rising numbers.
Roughly 62% of the U.S. is fully vaccinated, in line with the CDC. However solely about 33% of absolutely vaccinated adults have gotten boosters.
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