Guardian article on paediatric admissions New York

[OhDear2200]

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/27/us-child-covid-omicron-infections-school-closures

Curious - as we are not vaccinating children (most anyway) should we expect an increase in hospital admissions for children?

Or is there something I’m missing?

God, how depressing

I work in hospitality and because it's "no restrictions needed", I have to go in where nobody is wearing masks.

I understand why we do need to keep the economy going, but it's still a massive worry for those of us who don't have the option to wfh.

@treeflowercat I would personally think reducing viral load, reducing repeat infection and having vaccine protection would all be worthwhile.

You can approach these issues as you see fit with regard to your own kids of course.

Latest article, has some figures for up to 24/12:

"Pediatric hospitalizations are up 395% in New York City since the week ending Dec. 11, jumping from 22 to 109 the week ending Dec. 23. Statewide pediatric hospitalizations jumped from 70 to 184."

So of course small numbers, but those are big jumps in a fortnight. And that's just one state/city.

Countrywide:
"Across the country, nearly 2,000 children are currently hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 -- up by approximately 700 pediatric patients compared to a month ago, according to federal data.

On average, more than 260 children are being admitted to the hospital each day, an 80% increase over four weeks."

And the concern is that they are amongst the unvaccinated children. Almost 100% of UK kids are unvaccinated currently.

abc7.com/covid-in-kids-vaccine-omicron-variant-children-with/11393077/

I just can’t bring myself to worry about it. Kids get ill all the time. My DD ended up in hospital following a sick bug in summer. The bug itself was reasonably mild, a few voms. But she just flatly refused to eat or drink for days afterwards. She was severely dehydrated & needed a tube down her nose. We were admitted for less than 24 hours but admitted non the less. It took a good month for her to recover from, she was so lethargic & sad for a while 😔

Covid will probably be very mild for my kids (they’ve both had it once & I wouldn’t have known without testing). It might not be. But a tummy bug can be awful. Chicken pox landed two of my friends kids in hospital, one in ICU. A local kiddo got sepsis from an ear infection & lost both legs 😔

Life is what it is. I can’t see covid any differently to other childhood illnesses at all. It’ll probably be completely fine. It might not be but it’s very rare. I can’t & won’t shield my kids from life, from school, from friends, socialising, parties, softplay, swimming.. fun.

Bobholll, you don't need to shield kids from life, but every parent can be cautious and protect kids from harm as much as we can. This is a new virus. There's so much we don't know about it, so better to be cautious than regret it later.

@Bobholll but surely you could have some empathy for us parents who have (prior to Covid) been in hospital repeatedly with their child with respiratory illness? Precisely because of that I would like to know the potential outcomes - potential even if a very very small percentage- as a result of Omicron?

I’m not wanting to scare anyone or limit my life. But I want to know the situation.

Cambridge medic's opinion relevant to 'with not for' admissions (not paediatric- specific afaik)

twitter.com/andymoz78/status/1475569739875459074?s=21

[quote PaulGallico]@rrhuth - can you expand on your post please? and provide us with the data on which you are making your assertion.[/quote]
Hi - here are some figures from the UK:
twitter.com/Antonio_Caramia/status/1475561607711412224/photo/1

Up approx. 30% on that graph but they are UK-wide figures and it is concentrated in London, so the % increase for London is higher.

However - the Grauniad article says 'quadrupled' in NY? So higher than London - I read something on twitter saying London was similar to NY. Happy to be corrected!

Almost all children we know have Covid now or had it in the last few weeks. Of course, there will be a noticeable increase in kids being admitted to hospital with Covid if almost all of children in England have it within a very short time span. I must admit I rolled my eyes a bit at the "it's spreading like wild fire" threads a few weeks ago but it's true, it has spread like crazy and must soon be through our communities. There will be a lot of children who have underlying health issues that hadn't been diagnosed yet, the sheer number of infected dc drives this, surely?

Omicron will have burnt itself out very soon.

Interesting @rrhuth Here is the quote

Also have seen a number of patients come in as ‘incidental COVID finding’ and then develop full blown pneumonitis (inc needing ventilation) 5-7 days after admission. There is almost no condition that isn’t worsened by having COVID alongside it, even if the COVID is mild.

It's not Covid alone but when Covid meets a nasty cold. I had wondered about this. Ds1 had a nasty, nasty cold mid December. It cleared after 7-10 days. Now ds has covid with no symptoms. I can imagine if both hit at the same time and hundreds of thousands of kids have it simultaneously hospital admissions go up.

It's all pretty fucked up.

[quote JanglyBeads]Cambridge medic's opinion relevant to 'with not for' admissions (not paediatric- specific afaik)

twitter.com/andymoz78/status/1475569739875459074?s=21[/quote]
A lot catch it in dirty hospitals, perhaps a review of their procedures would help.

A lot catch it in dirty hospitals, perhaps a review of their procedures would help
It is airborne

Of course, there will be a noticeable increase in kids being admitted to hospital with Covid if almost all of children in England have it within a very short time span.

Agree, but it would have been good to have had the chance to vaccinate my child when other countries were vaccinating theirs. There would be a lot less children in hospital in the UK had the 5-12s been vaccinated before this wave hit.

@Barbie222

Of course, there will be a noticeable increase in kids being admitted to hospital with Covid if almost all of children in England have it within a very short time span.

Agree, but it would have been good to have had the chance to vaccinate my child when other countries were vaccinating theirs. There would be a lot less children in hospital in the UK had the 5-12s been vaccinated before this wave hit.

yes absolutely right

The admissions in NY are amongst the unvaccinated.

In the UK, parents were denied the option.

But everyone wants the schools open, hundreds of unvaccinated children in small enclosed spaces 30 hours a week, what could possibly go wrong?

In fairness @BluebellsGreenbells I want both but can’t do that in this country so I have to weigh up the threat of non-attendance policies and fines or giving up employment to home educate which I am neither qualified for or have any natural aptitude for

May be a slight increase in children being admitted hospital but my DD is an intensve care nurse at a large children's hospital in the UK.
Very few children in critical care because of covid.

@BluebellsGreenbells

But everyone wants the schools open, hundreds of unvaccinated children in small enclosed spaces 30 hours a week, what could possibly go wrong?

Omicron in schools will have run its course now. Few children left in our school who haven't had it or don't have it now.

Hasn’t touched a lot of schools here yet!

Nor here... whereas delta....

Was reading on twitter that the UK child covid admissions - 80% are not incidental diagnoses, and 60% have no underlying conditions.

@rrhuth

Was reading on twitter that the UK child covid admissions - 80% are not incidental diagnoses, and 60% have no underlying conditions.

Makes sense because the 80% is similar to the stats re adult covid admissions. So it would mean most covid admissions are in fact because of covid. I would imagine those 20%ish incidental findings could still potentially complicate someones treatment and recovery so shouldn't be dismissed.

Our schools have had delta but not omicron. Given having had delta won't give you protection against catching omicron it's going to be ugly.

Also shows why herd immunity is not a good strategy. Everyone was saying 'oh well, the kids will all have had it so they'll be protected'. Nope.

@theemperorhasnoclothes

Our schools have had delta but not omicron. Given having had delta won't give you protection against catching omicron it's going to be ugly.

Also shows why herd immunity is not a good strategy. Everyone was saying 'oh well, the kids will all have had it so they'll be protected'. Nope.

I totally agree - herd immunity was bullshit.

Not only is herd immunity bullshit of the highest order, just letting infections continue at a high level because 'herd immunity' is actually much more likely to give rise to new previous-immunity-evading variants. A huge selection pressure is created for variants that can evade previous immunity, and plenty of opportunities, should one arise, for it to grown, take over and become dominant.

We're creating the perfect environment for this to drag on and on and on. Whereas, in Asian countries.... they're really living with it properly. Proper contact tracing when infections at a low level, act quickly when there are outbreaks, masks, ventilation.