powered by:
valneva canada inc.
opinion: children and covid-19 — 'a pandemic of the innocent'
hospitals in hot spots like florida and arkansas are getting double-digit admissions among children and multiple kids in the icus.
aug 12 2021
4 minute read
we apologize, but this video has failed to load.
try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
by: anne jarvis
one doctor described it as “a pandemic of the innocent.”
the more contagious and virulent delta variant and the low vaccination rate are fuelling the surge of covid-19 in the u.s., mainly among the people who aren’t vaccinated.
but not everyone who didn’t get the shot chose not to get the shot. children under age 12 aren’t eligible for the vaccines. now, cases among kids are rising. and while most children experience only mild symptoms, hospitalizations and even intensive care unit admissions among kids are also rising.
fourteen per cent of the total covid-19 cases in the u.s. have been in children, according to the american academy of pediatrics. but children represented 15 per cent of the total cases reported last week. the total number of cases among children rose four per cent in the last two weeks. among 11 states reporting, between 4.8 per cent and 17.6 per cent of children tested were positive.
there were 3,439 cases in kids in louisiana in four days. one-quarter of children tested in the state, which leads the u.s. in new cases and where only 13 per cent of eligible kids are vaccinated, were positive.
among 23 states plus new york city, up to almost two per cent of covid-19 cases among children required hospitalization, and children represented up to 3.5 per cent of total hospitalizations.
advertisement
advertisement
hospitals in hot spots like florida, missouri and arkansas are getting double-digit admissions among children and multiple kids in the icus. a three-month-old baby was in an intensive care unit in louisiana.
a total of 261 children were admitted to u.s. hospitals on aug. 5, a single-day record, florida physician dr. jorge caballero tweeted. there are more kids with covid-19 in u.s. hospitals than at any other time this year, he tweeted.
“delta variant is different, and kids are not immune,” he said. “delta spreading fastest among children. this is now a pandemic of the innocent.”
canada is lucky, if you can call it that. we can see the future of the pandemic because we watch it unfold in the countries that are hit first.
this was canada’s chief public health officer, dr. theresa tam, last week: the fourth wave is beginning in parts of canada and “we expect cases to be concentrated largely in younger, unvaccinated people.”
we have all the same factors as the u.s., though some not to the same degree.
the delta variant is the predominant strain, reported in more than 60 per cent of cases in canada, 94 per cent in ontario and rising rapidly in windsor and essex county. cases in canada, ontario and here are rising. barely half — 52.8 per cent — of youth ages 12 to 17 are vaccinated in ontario, and less than half in this region — 44.3 per cent — are vaccinated. many public health measures have been lifted. schools, which will be the largest congregations of unvaccinated people, open in four weeks. shortly after, cooler weather will send more people inside, where the virus spreads more easily.
advertisement
advertisement
“this is a concern,” windsor regional hospital chief of pediatrics dr. lenna morgan said tuesday. “we’re just following what’s been going on in the united states with not only an increase in the number of cases in children but an increase in the number of more severe cases in children that are requiring hospitalization and intensive care unit admissions.
“it just highlights the fact that this variant is affecting kids much more than any of the other previous variants have and that we do need to be concerned about children much more than we have had to up until now.”
pediatricians in alberta, where cases are rising exponentially, wrote an open letter to premier jason kenney on tuesday calling for the province to reinstate testing, contact tracing, mandatory isolation of positive cases and the use of masks indoors to protect children.
“high numbers of covid-19 infections in children translate to higher numbers of children who develop serious illness such as multisystem inflammatory syndrome…or severe covid-19 pneumonia,” the alberta medical association’s pediatric section wrote.
not only that, the letter states, doctors don’t know the long-term impact of covid-19 on children’s health. evidence suggests that three to 12 per cent of kids suffer symptoms long after even mild infection, the letter states.
advertisement
advertisement
it cited the “rapid increases” in pediatric hospitalizations in florida and louisiana.
it’s “imperative” to protect children and vulnerable populations until kids under age 12 can be vaccinated, and the province reaches herd immunity, the letter stated.
“failure to do so is an abdication of our responsibility to protect those who may not be in a position to protect themselves,” it concluded.
so we know what can happen, and while we wait for vaccines to be approved in children under age 12, we can do something about this. the biggest thing we can do is control the spread of the virus. and the best way to do that is for eligible people to get vaccinated.
it was horrifying to watch our elderly parents and grandparents sicken and die of covid-19 last year. watching that happen to children is unimaginable.
share story
