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In New York and the UK, the number of children hospitalized for Corona has quadrupled since December. Switzerland has been spared so far – but hospitals and authorities are alarmed.
In Switzerland, there has been no evidence of increased hospitalization so far. However, the Covid Task Force warned at a press conference on Tuesday that children could be more affected by Omikron. At least this is shown by a study from South Africa.
kostas maros / TAMEDIA AG
Julia Bielicki, Head of Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases at the UKBB: “In proportion, the number of hospitalizations has remained roughly the same as it was before Omikron.” In absolute numbers, however, an increase is to be expected.
University Children’s Hospital of both Basel
In New York and England, the number of children and adolescents hospitalized for Corona is worrying.
Hospitalizations there have quadrupled and tripled since December.
The Swiss Covid Taskforce recently warned that children could be more affected by Omikron.
So far, the numbers in Switzerland have not increased significantly – but that could change.
Omikron ensures rapidly increasing numbers of infections all over the world. Now the hospitals in New York are noticing an alarming trend among children: In December alone, the number of children and adolescents hospitalized for Corona quadrupled, as the German news magazine “Focus” writes.
The number of hospitalized children is also increasing in Great Britain: the country started the new year with 525 hospitalized infants in one week – this number has almost doubled within one week.
Covid task force warns of Omikron in children
In Switzerland, the many Omikron cases in children’s hospitals have not yet made themselves felt. The task force members Samia Hurst and Alain di Gallo warned at the press conference on Tuesday that children could be more affected by Omikron and referred to a study from South Africa.
According to this, the hospitalization rate after infections with Omikron in children is 20 percent higher than in the first wave in 2020. The hospitals are also on standby: Upon request of 20 minutes, several hospitals with children’s clinics say that the situation is being closely monitored.
“Proportionally no more children with Covid in the hospital”
Julia Bielicki, Head of Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases at the UKBB, also believes that the maximum infection values could still be reflected in hospitalizations: “In absolute numbers, we will at most see more hospital admissions. However, if you look at the proportion of infected children who have to be admitted to hospital, and this is epidemiologically decisive, the numbers have so far remained roughly the same as before Omikron. “
Individual hospitals noticed more admissions of children in connection with Covid and PIMS diseases in December. The PIMS disease is an overreaction of the immune system, which can also occur independently of Covid-19. In the University Children’s Hospital in Basel (UKBB), for example, four children were hospitalized in November, three of which required intensive treatment. In December there were already 15 children in the children’s hospital, three of them in intensive care.
Children’s clinics are already busy due to other illnesses
According to a spokesman for the UKBB, not every child that appears in the statistics was admitted to hospital because of Covid. Occasionally, there are children with acute illnesses who have also been tested positive for corona.
Even if Covid hospitalizations have not yet exploded, as in other countries, the children’s clinics are already busy in some cases. For example in Bern’s Inselspital: RSV, the human metapneumovirus (RKI) and the rotavirus are currently dominant. Most hospitalized children are younger than twelve years.
Since the beginning of January, children can be vaccinated against Covid in several cantons. Vaccination chief Christoph Berger has turned around when assessing the urgency of child vaccination. Berger was cautious about the approval in mid-December and recommended the vaccination mainly for children who suffer from a chronic illness or who live with people who are particularly at risk.
Now it sounds different: On Tuesday, Berger also recommended the vaccination to healthy children to the SRF. The reason for this is numerous safety data from vaccinations in the USA – over eight million children there have already been vaccinated against Corona.
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