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COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations among kids under 5 rising exponentially across N. Texas, data shows

Positive COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations among children under 5 years old have risen exponentially across North Texas in recent weeks, data shows.

The omicron variant is affecting children under 5, including newborns, at higher rates than delta and other coronavirus variants did, said Dr. Carla García Carreño, chief of infectious disease at Children’s Medical Center Plano.

García Carreño said there has been a tenfold increase in the number of minors infected by COVID-19 in the last several weeks, namely among children under age 5, who aren’t eligible for vaccines.

“We have seen cases of newborns that come in with a fever who are positive for COVID-19, and we have to hospitalize them,” García Carreño said.

According to data from the Children’s Health system, in the week beginning Dec. 12, a total of 79 positive COVID-19 tests — 4% of all tests — were recorded systemwide, with 12 patients requiring hospitalization. In the week starting Dec. 26, a total of 717 positive results, or 27% of all test results, were recorded, with 87 patients requiring hospitalization.

On Tuesday, a total of 54 children were hospitalized with COVID-19 across the Children’s system.

Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth has also seen a soaring increase in COVID-19-related hospitalizations. On Monday, 26 children were hospitalized with COVID-19, including two in intensive care.

The rising caseload in North Texas children’s hospitals reflects what’s happening across the U.S.

A joint report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association shows a nearly 150% increase in the number of pediatric COVID-19 cases over a four-week period. On Dec. 30, the current pediatric caseload for the U.S. was about 325,000, compared to about 133,000 on Dec. 2.

According to the report, about 29,200 children across the U.S. were hospitalized with COVID-19 and 735 died of the disease during the nearly 20-month period from mid-May 2020 to December 2021.

“It’s true that COVID-19 has been less severe in children, but it is not harmless,” García Carreño said. “Unfortunately the lives of children have been lost — lives that would have otherwise not been lost.”

Different from delta variant

The effect of omicron on children seems to have important differences from what happened with the delta variant.

Children who have been affected by omicron don’t necessarily have health conditions that predispose them to greater harm, like obesity and diabetes. Rather, they’re generally healthy children.

“With the delta variant, we saw many teens who were overweight get very sick at the hospital, some even requiring intensive care, and sadly they had not been vaccinated,” García Carreño said. “In these few weeks that we have seen the spike, the majority are smaller children with no preexisting conditions, healthy kids.”

The symptoms associated with the omicron variant in kids make it impossible to differentiate them from the ones of a common cold, which is why it is important to get them tested as soon as symptoms develop.

Some children could present symptoms of a common cold, said García Carreño. Others could have gastrointestinal symptoms.

The only symptom that is specific to COVID-19 is the loss of taste and smell, although, in the case of omicron, the CDC has said that this symptom isn’t the norm. If it’s present, children under 5 can have difficulty describing it, which is why the symptom often goes unreported in kids of that age group.

García Carreño said that parents with children who have symptoms should quickly seek medical attention, noting that some symptoms might present as influenza but could be COVID-19.

“The only way to know if a child has COVID-19 is by testing. If you have a child that has symptoms and that child is in a community, exposed, where the disease is prevalent, you have to test them as soon as possible,” she said.

García Carreño urged everyone who lives with children and is eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and get a booster, because the shots are the best way to protect children under 5, who aren’t eligible to be inoculated.

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