The number of children treated in hospital with Covid-19 in the United States has been rising in the current Omicron wave as parents and teachers are criticizing school openings despite the extremely contagious nature of the latest coronavirus variant.
Especially the number of hospitalized Covid-19 patients under the age of five has been on the uptick. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Covid-19 Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network assumes a rate of 5.3 Covid-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 children aged 0-4 – more than double that of late November. Covid-19 hospitalizations for older kids about mirrored those of the Delta wave in late summer and fall of 2021.
So far, no coronavirus vaccinations have been recommended for kids below the age of five. Vaccinations for those 5-11 years old started in the U.S. on Nov 3, while jabs for those between the ages of 12 and 17 were rolled out in April and May. As of Jan 3, around 25 percent of children aged 5-11 had received any shots and only around 16 percent had been fully vaccinated. Those numbers were 64 percent and 54 percent for those in the older age bracket.
According to the network's data, around 2 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients have been under the age of 18 on average since the start of the pandemic. Currently, that number exceeds 7 percent. The most common underlying condition for children hospitalized with Covid-19 was obesity, affecting more than a third of pediatric patients, followed by asthma at around 16 percent. Just under half of children hospitalized with Covid-19 had no underlying conditions.
