SAN DIEGO — The CDC says pediatric COVID cases have risen dramatically and are now at the highest rate since the start of the pandemic, especially among children too young to get the vaccine.
Nationwide, hospital admissions have jumped by nearly 100% in just the past week.
At Rady Children's Hospital, the number of kids being admitted with COVID tripled in just the last week. As of Monday, there were 20 kids in the COVID unit and two in the ICU.
But, doctors say fortunately, there have been no child-related COVID deaths in San Diego, and most of the kids who have COVID have very mild symptoms.
"I don’t want people to worry that children are in the hospital sick with COVID. The numbers are high. We average 20 to 25 kids in the hospital at one time who are COVID positive, but they're coming in going out, so it's not like these are chronic infections,” said Head of Infectious Diseases at Rady’s, Dr. John Bradley.
Dr. Bradley said many of the children testing positive are coming in for something else, but per protocol, they are getting tested for COVID and discovering they have that as well.
Still, he said the omicron variant is spreading very quickly, which is why he and other doctors say it’s crucial for eligible children to get vaccinated because not only can they spread it within the community, but there's a growing concern about MIS-C, an inflammation condition in kids related to COVID.
"Fatigue, myalgia. These kids feel horrible. Occasionally, their hearts are already infected and there's no virus there anymore. All of these kids are antibody positive. They’re immune, but the body thinks the virus is still there and a publication from the CDC that came out Friday says if kids are vaccinated, it prevents MIS-C as well as preventing active infection in children," said Dr. Bradley.
The booster is now recommended for those 12 and up. Children 5 and up are eligible to get the vaccine.
Dr. Bradley said MIS-C usually shows up about four weeks post COVID, so he expects a wave of MIS-C patients at the end of January following the recent surge in pediatric patients.
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