Hospitalization of children suffering from Covid-19 increased drastically in the recent weeks, according to reports. Emergency department visits have also gone up even as the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus is spreading rapidly.
The increase in hospital admissions was reported from children aged 0-17 years from June to August, according to data available with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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In a two-week period (August 14-27), Covid-19-related emergency department visits and hospital admissions among the mentioned age group in the states with the lowest vaccination coverage were 3.4 and 3.7 times than in those with the highest inoculation rate, respectively. The the study was published on Friday in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Report, according to IANS.
Hospitalisation Rates 10 Times Higher
Meanwhile, weekly Covid-19-associated hospitalisation rates among children and adolescents rose nearly five-fold during the period from late June to mid-August, coinciding with increased circulation of the highly transmissible Delta variant, said a second CDC report published also on Friday.
Hospitalisation rates were 10 times higher among unvaccinated than among fully inoculated adolescents, said the report, adding the proportions of hospitalised children and adolescents with severe disease were similar before and during the period of Delta predominance.
Children Account for 22.4 percent of Weekly Cases
Meanwhile, child Covid-19 cases are up, with about 204,000 cases added last week, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association.
For the week ending August 26, children accounted for 22.4 per cent of reported weekly cases, it added.
So far, nearly 4.8 million children have tested positive for Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic in the US early last year, said a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association.
(With IANS Inputs)
