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A startling number of children under the age of 5 are being hospitalized with COVID-19 amid the sweeping surge of the Omicron variant. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the hospitalization rate among the group has skyrocketed since mid-December with “more than four in 100,000 children ages 4 and younger,” becoming hospitalized with COVID across the country, The New York Times noted.
The giant uptick in cases within children has rapidly multiplied since Jan. 1 and is near “three times the rate higher” than last year, the publication reported. Currently, the CDC has not authorized the vaccine for children under 5. In comparison, hospitalization rates in children between the ages of 5 and 17 are nearly four times lower than the record-breaking numbers being reported for young tots. While 50 percent of kids ages 12 to 18 are fully vaccinated, only 16 percent of children 5 to 11 have become fully inoculated against the disease. CDC Director Rochelle Wollensky said that the rising numbers in hospitalization rates are being reported in children who have not received their vaccination yet.
“Sadly, we are seeing the rates of hospitalizations increasing for children 0 to 4, who are not yet currently eligible for Covid-19 vaccination,” Wollensky said in a statement on Jan 7 urging parents of elligible children to get vaccinated. “It’s critically important that we surround them with people who are vaccinated to provide them protection.
While the numbers are high, Wollensky added that children are less likely to become severely ill from COVID-19 compared to adults. The rate of hospitalization overall amongst children under 18 still remains relatively low with 5 percent of the group accounting for new daily hospital admissions.
Additionally, researchers have found that children who have appeared to recover from COVID-19 have been at risk of developing Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, the CDC revealed in a separate announcement.
The shocking discovery was reported after a number of children from Europe were being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, with many cases stemming from the start of the pandemic back in March 2020. In an effort to address the issue here in The United States, the CDC conducted a study that compared two claim databases from U.S. health care plans to examine the reported cases of diabetes in children under 18 over the course of 2020, compared to those who did not have COVID. Researchers in the U.S. found “a 2.6-fold increase in new diabetes cases among children in one and a smaller 30 percent increase in another,” The New York Times reported.
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