The Omicron variant has fueled thousands of new COVID-19 hospitalizations among U.S. children within weeks
The seven-day-average number of daily hospitalizations for children between Dec. 21 and Dec. 27 is up more than 58% nationwide in the past week to 334, compared to around 19% for all age groups, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show. Fewer than 25% of the 74 million Americans under 18 are vaccinated, according to the CDC.
"What we are seeing is that children under five remain unvaccinated so there's still a relatively large population of children who are naive, so they have no preexisting immunity to this virus," said Nayak. Other parts of the United States are also seeing a spike in cases among children. Ohio has seen a 125% increase in hospitalizations among children 17 and under in the past four weeks, according to data from the Ohio Hospital Association.
"They need help breathing, they need help getting oxygen, they need extra hydration. They are sick enough to end up in the hospital, and that's scary for doctors, and it's scary for parents," said Rebecca Madan, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at New York University's Langone Health hospital system.
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