by: lynn giesbrecht
saskatchewan has had more children hospitalized with covid-19 recently than at any other point in the pandemic as cases in those too young to be vaccinated remain high.
“as of last week, there were 17 kids in total in hospital that week in the province, which is the highest it’s ever been,” saskatoon pediatrician mahli brindamour said during a virtual saskatchewan health authority physician town hall on thursday.
out of the 17 people ages 18 and under who were hospitalized, 15 were under the age of 12, according to presented data.
brindamour also reported that the three covid-19 deaths the province has previously reported in the under 19 age group were, in fact, all under the age of 12.
“devastatingly, in saskatchewan three kids less than 12 years old have died from covid during the pandemic and this represents 16 per cent of all pediatric deaths in canada, while saskatchewan and the pediatric population of saskatchewan represents three per cent of the canadian population,” she said.
she noted those three pediatric deaths mean saskatchewan has had three times more kids die from covid-19 than alberta and has a higher child death rate per capita than ontario.
“kids as a population do not die in large numbers, and any pediatric death is a devastating event that needs to be considered carefully and that events and policies leading to it need to be carefully analyzed,” she said.