Hospitalisation Rates in Children

[ClimbDad]

Mumsnet removed a thread discussing hospitalisation and risks to children following the LBC interview with the hospital matron.

The Department of Health publishes hospitalisation figures by age. Daily hospitalisation of children is currently averaging 40 to 50 admissions.

coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/healthcare?areaType=nation&areaName=England

The admissions criteria is designed to exclude children who are in hospital for other reasons and catch Covid-19.

I don’t know what we consider an acceptable level of risk. We haven’t had that conversation as a country, but I feel sorry for the hundreds of families living through this horrific experience every week.

@ofwarren

3 threads deleted on this topic. I'm furious we aren't allowed to discuss this

I think its more!

@mrshoho exactly how I feel. Now totally panicked

Whoever controls the message controls the masses.

Unfortunately for Gav it's like playing whack-a-mole.

@yeOldeTrout

total daily admissions of Covid-19 patients in England were 2,572 as of December 27...

so...

50/2572 = 1.9%

I accept that may be 100x higher than the % of children admitted with covid in April. Do we have those numbers for children & total in April? (admissions daily)

But we were fully locked down then. How about you compare it to another month? Say when lockdown ended?

It's a weird experience to be reading the thread and then it is gone!

@TillysMum02

Mumsnet have a duty of care. Many posters on here have mental health problems and won’t cope with the thought of kids being affected

Really? I would not have thought that would be the case. Seems ridiculous to me to do that and I am a super sensitive person.

@CarolEffingBaskin

You do understand that 'admitted with' does not equal 'admitted for treatment for' right?

Yep. Children will be being tested before being admitted for routine, elective, or accident/medical issues. Some will turn out to have Covid but be asymptomatic.

It's unhelpful to think of these numbers as representing children seriously ill from Covid, and risks scaring people unnecessarily.

That would be very presumptuous of mumsnet to assume that the majority of mental health issues in posters relate to health anxiety about their children? Very niche and specific.
Why not assume all posters have eating disorders ? Or that a majority of posters worry about the elderly?

January/February there are always quite high rates of hospitalization for respiratory illness in children.

Our local paediatric ward - with maybe 20-30 beds (not sure) would typically admit 2-3 new patients with respiratory problems each day around this time of year - most commonly bronchiolitis in infants.

So even if COVID-19 is no worse in kids that the typical stuff we see every year - you'd expect a few admissions in each hospital each day.

@Hardbackwriter

Death is horrific if the patient is 9 or 90

Does anyone really, actually believe that the death of a 90 year old is as tragic as the death of a 9 year old?

My concern is that I (like many other parents) only send out dc to school because first we were told that schools are covid secure! When it became apparent that was a load of bull, we were reassured that DC get a very mild form or asymptomatic. No one ever said anything about DC being at risk of hospitalisation.

Excellent point, SaraClara.

there were so few admissions of anyone in June-August .. .anyway, I can't be arsed to crunch raw numbers right now. Someone else is welcome to the task.

@ClimbDad

Mumsnet removed a thread discussing hospitalisation and risks to children following the LBC interview with the hospital matron.

The Department of Health publishes hospitalisation figures by age. Daily hospitalisation of children is currently averaging 40 to 50 admissions.

coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/healthcare?areaType=nation&areaName=England

The admissions criteria is designed to exclude children who are in hospital for other reasons and catch Covid-19.

I don’t know what we consider an acceptable level of risk. We haven’t had that conversation as a country, but I feel sorry for the hundreds of families living through this horrific experience every week.

Please can you tell me where that daily rate of 40-50 is? From the link total admissions for 6-17 year olds 1,585 total since the start of the pandemic. I can't see a daily number broken down by age.

Of course children get it, but for many in hospital it's not the reason why they are there. They are systematically tested on arrival aren't they? The numbers are actually pretty reassuring I'd have thought.

@TillysMum02

Mumsnet have a duty of care. Many posters on here have mental health problems and won’t cope with the thought of kids being affected

Oh I thought the website was for everyone, not tailored to discussions that won't upset certain people (topics that are headline news!! Not weird shit)

The op has form and has been starting scaremongering threads for months.

@covetingthepreciousthings

It’s as if Gav himself is moderating on mumsnet tonight.

guest mods! There's an idea.

I hope this thread does not cause lots of anxiety.
I know of 2 paediatric patients who tested positive yesterday- they were admitted for other treatment, asymptomatic and perfectly well. They’re admitted but not for covid treatment.

I listened to the LBC interview with the hospital matron on Twitter and the problem with it was the lack of context.

Yes as cases rise, the number of children with covid are increasing, but they are increasing in proportion for other age groups too. See this report for week ending 27th December: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948529/Weekly_COVID-19_and_Influenza_Surveillance_Graphs_w53.pdf

I don’t work for the government, I’m trying to get to the bottom of what is happening so I can make a decision about whether mine should go back to school.

Exactly @LaChatte

@Hardbackwriter

Death is horrific if the patient is 9 or 90

Does anyone really, actually believe that the death of a 90 year old is as tragic as the death of a 9 year old?

In the real world no. On Mumsnet, anything goes

Many posters on here have mental health problems and won’t cope with the thought of kids being affected

If children are being affected more, no one needs to know that more than parents, regardless of how it makes them feel (and they can hide the thread). You sign up for hearing whatever you need to know when you become a parent.

Whoever controls the message controls the masses

Indeed - which is why it's hard not to notice that the "matron story" has appeared just as more schools close

Best, perhaps, to save the panic until better information's available

@TillysMum02 Death at 90 is horrific? WTAF? Surely given you'd have exceeded average life expectancy you'd be grateful?

I live expecting anyone 70 and above could pop their clogs at any moment - I obviously hope they don't but life is much more manageable that way!

@SatishTheCat When was it on LBC? Will have a listen (as long as it wasn’t with Nick Ferrari!)

Yes as cases rise, the number of children with covid are increasing, but they are increasing in proportion for other age groups too

That is bad enough though. The worst case scenarios-where children are getting more sick as result of this new strain-does not have to be true in order for this new strain to be a game changer. The one silver lining of Covid has been that children escape more lightly. If that has changed, it changes everything.