Kids’ Covid hospitalizations hit pandemic high, worrying doctors and parents
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Adrian James (2 years old) is being checked by a respiratory therapist. He was found to have COVID-19 and has been placed on ventilator at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, St. Louis (Missouri), U.S.A, October 5, 2021.
Callaghan O’Hare | Reuters
Trisha DeGroot’s 10-year-old Rainey was not feeling well after attending a Houston church choir rehearsal in September.
Rainey had a fever so DeGroot ordered her to be tested for Covid-19. DeGroot believed Rainey would soon recover, much like her 13 year-old son Sam who was also afflicted by Covid.
Rainey felt nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and a headache. DeGroot explained that her personality recovered after about ten days. She seemed to have turned the corner.
Rainey began to experience severe depression. Rainey had difficulty eating. She started to feel worsening abdominal pains and was suffering from headaches. Rainey became more severe. The family doctor could not diagnose the reason. DeGroot received a diagnosis from a gastroenterologist stating that Covid may cause some child’s to overreact. To ease her stomach pains and get her back to eating, he prescribed Cyproheptadine. DeGroot claimed that the medication didn’t work.
DeGroot is a nurse and took Rainey to Texas Children’s Hospital Houston, where they specialized in post-Covid symptoms. Rainey was diagnosed as having long Covid and dysautonomia. The autonomic nervous systems controls basic bodily functions such as digestion.
Rainey wins the fight
DeGroot stated that Rainey was nauseated at the smells of food in December and claimed everything tasted rotten. Rainey was taken back by DeGroot to Texas Children’s Hospital where she was treated for 2 weeks.
Rainey received a feeding tube which allowed her to eat. DeGroot explained that she is now at home, but has trouble reading, making it difficult for her to follow along.
Rainey’s illness meant that 10-year old children couldn’t be vaccinated at the time. Food and Drug Administration would approve the authorization. PfizerAnd BioNTechIn October, vaccines for children aged 5-11 years old. Sam, David DeGroot and her husband were all vaccinated. Helen, her 4-year-old girl, is not yet eligible.
“It is absolute misery. It can be very debilitating for your child and everyone else. It is something you do not wish to happen.”
Rainey contracted the virus during the flood caused by the Delta variant. This highly contagious variant of the omicron is currently causing the largest pandemic-related outbreak in the entire world. The number of Covid-infected children in America has reached a new record.
Infectious disease experts at children’s hospitals in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver and Washington, D.C., all told CNBC that they are seeing more children hospitalized with Covid than during previous waves — although the number represents a lower percentage of overall cases.
Hospitalizations are on the rise
Pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Roberta DeBiasi said that at omicron’s peak 67 children were hospitalized with Covid at the Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. — a pandemic high and almost three times higher than the delta peak. She said that 45 children were currently being treated there.
On any given day at Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital, fifteen children can be admitted with Covid, according to Dr. Allison Bartlett. She is a pediatric infectious disease specialist. This is almost twice as many children were hospitalized with Covid in September, when the peak was reached.
Bartlett explained that “the good news” is the amount of ventilator-equipped children currently in intensive care units is approximately the same as the last peak. We don’t have nearly as many sick kids now as before.
ICU has fewer patients
Physicians say that although Covid is causing more hospitalizations for children, it’s not a worse strain than the previous ones.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta currently has more than 80 Covid-infected children. There are three hospitals in Atlanta, while there were 15 during the majority of the October/November period when Delta was dominant.
However, the percentage of children in the ICU — about 10% to 15% of those hospitalized — is probably slightly lower than what the hospital saw during the delta wave’s peak, said Dr. Andi Shane, head of the infectious disease division at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Pfizer’s Covid shot for children aged 12 to 15 years on May 10, and 5 to 11 year olds on October 29, was approved by the FDA. This gives a significant portion of these kids protection from omicron. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 55% and 19% respectively of children aged 12-17 and 5-11 are currently fully vaccinated.
This is the most dangerous risk
Most children in hospitalized for Covid were not vaccinated, according to pediatric infectious diseases specialists. Shane explained that Covid-related symptoms are less common in children who have had breakthrough infections but are still vaccinated.
According to Dr. Sean O’Leary at Children’s Hospital Colorado, “The greatest risk factor is not being vaccinated.”
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reportersThis month, it was revealed that children aged 12-15 who have not been vaccinated are eleven times more likely than those who were vaccinated. Children under five are especially vulnerable because they have not been vaccinated.
Walensky stated that “sadly, we are witnessing the rates of hospitalizations rising for children zero through 4, children who have not yet been eligible for Covid-19 vaccine,” Walensky said to reporters.
“Such a contagious variation”
O’Leary also serves as vice chair of American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Infectious Diseases. O’Leary said only about a third of those with the virus at his hospital were admitted for reasons other than the disease, and the remaining two-thirds need to be treated in hospital because of Covid.
Because this contagious variant is very common, and the infection is quite prevalent, “Yeah, we will see more children with Covid.” O’Leary added that they are seeing many children hospitalized for Covid.
An average of roughly 5,100 kids, from infants to 17-year-olds, were hospitalized with Covid as of Jan. 20, according to a seven-day average of data from the Department of Health and Human Services, up 26% over the past two weeks.
‘Absolute misery’
While hospitalizations of children with Covid are at pandemic levels, the CDC says that they have yet to see a rise in their hospitalization rates.
“I get that the chances are low — but it’s not zero,” DeGroot said of the risk Covid poses to children. It’s absolute misery. It can be very debilitating for your child and everyone else. It is something you do not wish to happen.”
According to CDC data, at least 1000 children died of Covid in the United States since the outbreak. 17% percent of all U.S. cases have been linked to the virus, which has infected over a million children. data from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
According to the CDC, there have been more than 94,000 Covid-infected children admitted to hospitals during this pandemic. The data is only available for August 2020, so it could be an overcount.
Obesity, asthma
Bartlett indicated that many of those children admitted to Covid at Comer, Chicago, are obese.
Camille Sabella is an infectious disease specialist from Cleveland Clinic Children’s. She said that severe asthma was another risk factor. Sabella indicated that children’s hospitals have 15-20 pediatric patients who are infected by Covid each day, as opposed to five for September or October. According to Sabella, about 70% are in hospital because of Covid.
According to the CDC, two-thirds (32%) of the children who were hospitalized for Covid were suffering from underlying conditions. The most prevalent condition was obesity, which was found in a survey of six pediatric patients taken at six different hospitals between July and August, when the Delta variant was dominant.
Covid is a risk for everyone. You do not know what Covid will do to you in the window of infection or in the long term of having Covid — you just don’t know.”
O’Leary said that about one-third of the children who are hospitalized due to Covid will eventually need oxygen support and intensive care because they have respiratory problems.
“We’ve barely scratched the surface”
Long-term implications for children’s long-term health are unclear as they experience more hospitalizations, infections and other complications. Stanford University professor Grace Lee of Pediatrics said that the epidemic has affected an entire generation.
Lee said, “I believe that we still haven’t addressed the long-term effects of Covid infected children.” told the CDC’s independent committee of vaccines advisorsShe chaired the committee earlier this month as Pfizer boosters cleared for 12- and 15-year old children.
Lee said, “I feel we haven’t even scratched a surface of the possibilities we’re going to find.”
Children who get Covid don’t need to be admitted until several months later, when serious complications begin.
Fever at 104 degrees
Janelle Bardon’s teenage daughter Taylor lived in Louisville, Kentucky. She was an active 17-year-old when she fell in love with Covid. Taylor was healthy and had played field hockey. Bardon explained that although she lost her senses for taste and smell due to infection, Taylor did not experience any other symptoms.
Taylor was dizzy and short of breath when she went back to play field hockey. Bardon was a nurse registered with over 20 years experience and took Taylor to the cardiologist. They discovered that Taylor had second-degree cardiac block.
Taylor was unable to walk after a fall family vacation to Disney World. Bardon stated that Taylor developed a severe sore throat, sunburnt-like skin rash, and fever of 104 degrees. She was unable to walk. Taylor experienced symptoms that were similar to hypovolemic stress, where the heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen delivery to her organs drop.
The MISC C and the long Covid
Taylor was taken into the emergency department. There, Taylor’s family was informed by an ER doctor that Taylor suffered from multisystem inflammatory syndrome for children or MIS-C. Taylor was placed in the ICU and given intravenous steroids. The family was able fly home to Kentucky after her condition had improved.
More than 6,000 children were diagnosed with MISC in the wake of the Pandemic. It is a rare condition that can be fatal and often linked to Covid infection. MIS-C causes inflammation in multiple organs. The CDC estimates that at least 55 children have been affected by the disease.
Taylor is now 18 and has still been experiencing symptoms. Bardon explained that Taylor’s symptoms include swelling of her lymph nodes and joint pain. The majority of children recover from MIS-C after treatmentOne study showed that inflammation was mostly gone after six months. There are some indications, however, that MIS-C may be similar to autoimmune disorders. suggesting symptoms could recur.
‘Lifelong illness’
Bardon explained that “now she’s stuck in a lifelong disease.” Bardon stated that Taylor would need to be given either anakinra or colchicine to manage rheumatoidarthritis.
O’Leary said that MIS-C typically develops between two and six weeks following infection. This would indicate that there will be a lot of new cases over the next few weeks. O’Leary stated that it’s too early to know if the omicron variation is linked with MIS–C.
A recent study from the CDC found that two doses of Pfizer vaccine were 91% effective for protecting children aged 12-18 against MISC. Taylor was vaccinated this summer.
After Patrick, Megean Naughton, her husband and firefighter husband were infected during the summer 2020, Megean Naughton, along with her family, contracted Covid. Zoe, now 14 years old, was in bed four weeks.
She recovered and was well for five months. Then she became sick one day and she couldn’t stand,” Naughton said. She is a stay at home mom to five kids. Naughton explained that Zoe was healthy and played lacrosse in her youth before Covid.
“Everyone is at-risk”
Zoe was in bed five months and Naughton took her to school for a medical withdrawal. Naughton stated that Zoe spent four days in hospital after suffering severe migraines and dehydration.
Naughton booked a Telehealth appointment at Norton Children’s Hospital Louisville, Kentucky. The hospital runs a clinic that treats children with lingering Covid symptoms. Naughton stated that Zoe was later diagnosed with Covid.
Zoe has been in physical rehab since the end of her eighth grade second semester. Naughton stated that Zoe still has severe headaches, dizziness, and pain.
Naughton stated that everyone is vulnerable to Covid. “You do not know what Covid will do to you in the window of infection or in the long term of having Covid — you just don’t know.”
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