Omicron is teaming up with the holiday season to infect more kids than ever before, and U.S. children's hospitals are bracing for it to get worse.
New York State reported a "striking increase" in new hospital admissions for children as pediatric COVID cases in the U.S. continue to rise."It's almost like you can see the train coming down the track and you're just hoping it doesn't go off the rails," Dr. Claudia Hoyen, director of pediatric infection control at UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland told CNN.
"So that is a concern to us, especially with those that can't be vaccinated under 5 or those that are not fully vaccinated or not vaccinated at all that are eligible over 5. So it is a big concern." "They're needing oxygen. They're needing some other assistance. Even if they're just really dehydrated, needing IV fluids, most of these kids that we're admitting for COVID are kids that have respiratory issues -- that they need oxygen and they need other support. So they're going to be pretty sick. You don't see kids that are not very sick in the hospital."
"Because of that, the virus has found a niche. At least here in Connecticut, it does look like it shifted in where it is going," he added. Younger children who cannot be vaccinated yet, or older kids who have yet to be fully vaccinated or vaccinated at all, are becoming infected, he said.Dr. Anthony Fauci discusses the transmissibility of the omicron variant and when he expects this current COVID surge of infections to peak.
"We are definitely seeing an increase in COVID-positive children, but they are not necessarily coming in with COVID symptoms," Owensby said. The kids are coming in for some other treatment, she said, and are testing positive when they are screened.
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