In recent weeks, a spike in COVID-19 cases in children has been reported. The figures show more than 10 million children testing positive for the virus, with a five percent increase in all hospitalizations and almost two percent in all deaths.
Based on these data, experts are discussing whether Omicron increases the incidence of COVID-19 in children.
While until recently it seemed that children were not as affected by the pandemic, since the Delta variant became prominent and more recently Omicron, that has completely changed.
“Omicron is highly transmissible, much more so than Delta, with a higher replication rate. That means if someone in the household is sick, they are more likely to transmit it to not just one, but perhaps both children and vice versa,” explained Dr. Priya Soni, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Cedars Sinai Medical Center.
The reason why COVID-19 cases in children have been increasing is due, experts say, to a series of multifaceted factors, including the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant, which is why, in a session with the media, carried out by Ethnic Media ServicesThe parents' questions and concerns were answered by parents.
Q: When it comes to COVID-19 in children, what symptoms should parents look out for?
Dr. Manisha Newaskar, a pediatric pulmonologist at Stanford Children's Health, noted that "some of the common symptoms (of COVID-19 in children) that we see are fever and chills, sore throat, congestion and runny nose, muscle or body aches, mild cough, even headache and fatigue, and some people also experience loss of taste or smell."
He also said that "nausea, vomiting and diarrhea are some of the symptoms that warrant immediate medical attention and include dizziness, chest pain or pressure that simply won't go away. Also difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, severe abdominal pain, confusion and difficulty staying awake. And if parents see a bluish discoloration on the child's face and lips, then they should seek medical attention immediately.».
She also stressed that most children who become ill with the SARS-CoV-2 virus will have mild symptoms and recover. However, she has seen that many children need to be hospitalized due to their serious illness.
Those, she said, with an underlying medical condition are more likely to get sick. “But we have seen even previously healthy children get very, very sick. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children is a condition where multiple organs in the body are inflamed and this is a condition where we have seen children require hospitalization.”
In the worst cases of COVID-19 in children, he said, severe pneumonia and respiratory failure have been seen, resulting in ventilatory support and in some cases multi-organ failure.
Q: What is the impact on families when a child has COVID? And when do they have to be quarantined or worse, hospitalized?
Dr. Jose Luis Perez, Medical Director of South Central Family Health Center, said the fact that children who have tested positive for COVID-19 must stay home puts a huge burden on parents, as they are unable to take time off.
“They’re dealing with the kids, having to stay home, and our parents are exhausted. We deal with that every day. Our Mental Health Department has been really busy taking care of parents and children who are at higher risk for anxiety and depression because of the ongoing worry,” she said.
Given the reality that Omicron increases the incidence of COVID-19 in children, vaccines remain the best option to combat it.
Q: Currently, only 18 percent of eligible children are vaccinated. What would you say to those parents who are struggling with whether or not to vaccinate their children against Covid-19?
Dr. Perez stressed that “the biggest weapon we have is education: letting parents know that scientists and doctors and all levels of the health care system in the United States are taking the utmost precautions to ensure that this vaccine is effective and safe for their child.”
She said that parents are constantly asking themselves, “Is it safe to give this vaccine to my child? With the lack of information out there, especially on social media, things like “the COVID vaccine causes infertility” can cause doubts in parents.”
Dr Soni said: “This virus and the vaccine have been studied more than any other infection or pathogen in history. We have had a very successful rollout in the five to 11 age group. Over eight million doses have been administered in this age group with no significant signs of risk. I think that should be really reassuring to parents.”
In this regard, David Román, Director of Development and Communications at the South Central Family Health Center, who has his first child at 13 months old, explained that taking his son to daycare every day is an act of faith, but we are hopeful that other parents have done the responsible thing to get them vaccinated, and that all staff have been vaccinated.
“What we all share uniformly as parents is that our children are under 5 years old and they cannot be vaccinated at this time. So you feel more pressure as a parent, because you cannot vaccinate your children, even if you wanted to.”
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on February 11 that it would postpone its decision to authorize the Pfizer vaccine for children under 5 years of age. This decision has been devastating for many parents in the face of the increase in cases in children.
Returning to school safely after Omicron reports increased incidence of COVID-19 in children.
Q: What variables will play a role in keeping schools open in California? And how do we keep transmission in classrooms to a minimum?
Dr. Soni explained that one of the safety measures is ventilation, which, she said, has not been taken into account as much as the use of masks or hand hygiene.
“We, of course, know the importance and significance of that, but that, coupled with the ability to vaccinate our children ages five to 11, has played a very important role here in Los Angeles.”
While many counties are opening up their restrictions and allowing masks to be removed, except for K-12 schools, the decision will be reviewed later this month.
Q: How do we get our kids back to school safely without wearing masks?
Dr. Newaskar said mask-wearing in school should continue until most children in the country are vaccinated. “We need to continue these mitigation measures, and I would highly recommend that to my patients.”
For Dr. Perez, “Reality is very important. We are not trying to reach zero infectivity: that is impossible. So, as long as we understand that, the benefit of removing masks from children is important because of the social aspect. And the psychological aspect of being in school has to be balanced with the fact that we are going to have more infections.”
However, he stressed that with current vaccines and treatments, hospitalizations, morbidity and mortality from the virus are minimized.
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