NYC sees four-fold increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations among kids

 

• New York State Health Department officials revealed last week that the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations among children has increased fourfold in New York City.
• Half of the children who have been hospitalized since Dec. 5 are under the age of five and not yet eligible to receive the vaccine.
• New York State Acting Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett urged parents to get their eligible children vaccinated to protect them against the virus.

Pediatric hospitalizations associated with COVID-19 are on the rise in New York as the state battles another surge of the virus linked to the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant. 

Since Dec. 5, the number of children hospitalized in New York City after contracting the virus has increased fourfold, the New York State Department of Health revealed in an advisory last week.

The most striking increase in cases has occurred in New York City and the surrounding metropolitan area, the advisory states, and out of the children that have been hospitalized, about half have been under the age of 5. 

Children under the age of 5 are still not eligible for the vaccine, and it is unclear when regulators will clear the shot for the country’s youngest children. Pfizer announced in mid-December it is amending clinical trials of its vaccine for children between the ages of six months and 5 years old. 

During the week of Dec. 19, none of the children between the ages of 5 and 11 that were hospitalized were fully vaccinated against the virus and only a quarter of hospitalized children ages 12 through 17 were fully vaccinated. 

New York State Acting Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett encouraged parents to protect their children by getting them vaccinated. 

“The risks of COVID-19 for children are real,” Bassett said in a statement. “We are alerting New Yorkers to this recent striking increase in pediatric COVID-19 admissions so that pediatricians, parents and guardians can take urgent action to protect our youngest New Yorkers.”

State health officials did not elaborate on how sick the children were once they were hospitalized. 

https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/587377-new-york-city-sees-four-fold-increase-in-covid-19