Even if children are at low risk for becoming seriously ill, medical experts caution that the coronavirus can on rare occasions lead to grave outcomes: 790 Americans under age 18 have died since the pandemic began.
And despite guarded optimism that the Omicron variant will be even less dangerous to children than its predecessors, experts acknowledge that it is still too early to know for sure.
“There are just so many caveats,” said Dr. Rick Malley, a pediatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital, which has not yet seen an appreciable rise in admissions for Covid-19.
He said he was awaiting more telling data on the length of hospitalizations and on whether young patients are needing oxygen or intubation. “It’s premature to predict what’s going to happen with Omicron, because this virus has repeatedly surprised us,” Dr. Malley said.
But one thing is beyond dispute: Omicron’s uncanny ability to spread among human hosts, even those who have been fully vaccinated. At Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, nearly a quarter of all children admitted in recent days have been testing positive, up from 5 percent during the height of the Delta surge last summer. Omicron accounts for more than 90 percent of those infections, according to Dr. James Versalovic, the hospital’s chief pathologist.
But so far, he said, the crush of infections has not led to a big jump in the number of children who need to be hospitalized for Covid — about 50 in recent days, down from a peak of 65 a few months ago.
Although weary from having weathered three previous waves, Dr. Versalovic was somewhat hopeful that advancements in the treatment of seriously ill patients and an uptick in vaccinations would protect most children from dire outcomes.
“Sure I’m worried, but I’m also optimistic that we’re going to be able to blunt the impact of Omicron,” he said.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/28/health/omicron-kids-hospitalizations.html
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