The US's largest children's hospital is reporting a four-fold increase in Covid-19 hospitalizations

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Tue, 2022-01-04 09:47 — mike kraft

The US's largest children's hospital is reporting a four-fold increase in Covid-19 hospitalizations With tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans at higher risk for severe disease from Covid-19 infections, doctors and health care facilities nationwide are reporting a rising number of young people hospitalized, some of whom are too young to receive vaccine doses. By Rhea Mogul, Adam Renton, Jack Guy and Ed Upright, CNN CNN

With tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans at higher risk for severe disease from Covid-19 infections, doctors and health care facilities nationwide are reporting a rising number of young people hospitalized, some of whom are too young to receive vaccine doses.

The nation's largest pediatric hospital, Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, is reporting a more than four-fold increase in child hospitalizations from Covid-19 over the last two weeks, spurred by the spread of the Omicron and Delta variants over the holiday season.

"We have staggering numbers here from this Omicron surge already," Dr. Jim Versalovic, pathologist-in-chief at Texas Children's, said Monday. "We shattered prior records that were established during the Delta surge in August."

More than 700 children were in the hospital with Covid-19 during one 24-hour period last week, he said, and 90% of cases were shown through sequencing to have been caused by the Omicron variant.

"We are seeing more Covid now than we have seen in previous waves," said Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, a primary care pediatrician and assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, "and it's worrisome that the worst of the winter here has not passed, and we are bracing for what is still to come."

Noting that some children who have coronavirus may be seeking medical care for other conditions yet testing positive, Bracho-Sanchez told CNN's Anderson Cooper Monday it is evident from what she has seen in New York City that more children there have Covid-19 than ever before.

"We would be foolish to keep minimizing Covid-19 in children at this point in the pandemic," she said.

Early research suggests Omicron may cause more upper airway problems, unlike previous strains that caused lower airway problems. However, upper airway conditions can be more dangerous for children than adults. ....

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