The spiraling coronavirus outbreak numbers in New York state are coming with a new warning of a disturbing rise in pediatric hospitalizations — particularly of unvaccinated children — even as the state touts a high vaccination rate among adults.
The New York State Department of Health’s warning Friday of a “striking increase” in new hospital admissions for children was being publicized a day later as many coronavirus testing centers in New York City were closed for Christmas.
A health advisory said the recent fourfold increase in admissions that began the week of Dec. 5 are concentrated in New York City and the surrounding area, where the highly contagious omicron variant was spreading rapidly.
“The risks of COVID-19 for children are real,” acting State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said in a release.
“We are alerting New Yorkers to this recent striking increase in pediatric COVID-19 admissions so that pediatricians, parents and guardians can take urgent action to protect our youngest New Yorkers. We must use all available safe and effective infection control, prevention and mitigation strategies,” she said.
Basset said parents should protect children who are 5 and older by getting them fully vaccinated while children under 5 are protected by ensuring those around them have been vaccinated and gotten boosters while adhering to other protective measures including mask-wearing, avoiding crowds and testing.
On Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul boasted at a cheerful coronavirus update briefing of the state’s high vaccination rate, saying that 95% of New York adults over age 18 have had at least one vaccine dose.
She also disclosed that the number of new infections had soared above 44,000 on Thursday to a new single-day record. Still, the rising numbers had not translated to a corresponding rise in hospitalizations or deaths, though those statistics tend to be lagging indicators.
Her words came as New Yorkers continued struggling to get tested for the coronavirus, with many sites closed on Saturday, and testing kits in short supply. The desperation was apparent at a free giveaway of home coronavirus test kits in a Brooklyn neighborhood where police had to be called to quell a crowd of angry people who were disappointed when the supply ran out.
The state health department advisory later Friday provided a grimmer picture for children.
For the week ending last Sunday, no 5- to 11-year-old child admitted to a hospital for COVID-19 treatment was fully vaccinated, it said.
And only a quarter of 12- to 17-year-olds who were admitted to the hospital were fully vaccinated, it said.
“These startling trends underscore the critical importance of protecting our children from COVID-19. The Department urges parents and guardians of all children five years and older to get their kids fully vaccinated as soon as possible,” the advisory stated.
(AP)
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7 Responses
Fake news. Yes, children can get Omicron just like previous strains. But 99.99% of the kids have very very mild symptoms, if any at all. Just because people are silly and rushing to their local hospital does not mean every should panic. These people are being sent home…NOT admitted for “hospitalization”. Fake news over and over to scare the public.
According to this article, there seems to be a spike in covid pediatric patients. This correlates to when the children were allowed to start getting the vaccines. You could draw your own conclusions but covid was not causing high pediatric hospitalization until their vaccinations started.
Fake News from AP and all the fake media. Nothing but a progaganda machine to force the poison death shot into young children. Most cases in children are the flu, not omicron. And omicron has proven be mild in most people.
Honestly, It’s hard to believe there are so many morons in this world. Were they born without brains, or is this man made??
This “warning” about “the recent fourfold increase in admissions’ for children, and how they are unvaccinated is meant to get parents of children terrified into fearing for their children from a threat that does not exist in order for them to vaccinate their children. Since the beginning of the pandemic it has been well established that children are not at risk from Covid at all. Based on what we have seen in our community, like in Lakewood where schools have been open since April of 2000, well before vaccines existed, not a single child has gotten seriously ill at all. So the “fourfold increase” means a fourfold increase from, say 1 child in a few hundred thousand to 4 children in a few hundred thousand, meaning the risk is still close to non existent . The reality is that there are two different worlds when it comes to Covid in children. There is the world of the frum community where we know that children getting seriously sick from Covid is practically non existent, and the progressive world where parents are terrified of their kids being exposed to Covid. The fact is that according to the CDC a total of 94 children between the ages of 5-11 died from Covid between 1/1/2020 and 10/16/21. Meanwhile in 2019 alone 84 children died of the flu and pneumonia, meaning that flu and pneumonia are allot more deadly for children 5-11 than Covid is. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/downloads/slides-2021-11-2-3/03-COVID-Jefferson-508.pdf
Stupidity,
If kids had previous Covid strains as mild this should be nothing
Why aren’t there numbers as to how many became admitted? 4X more than 1 is 4 btw
“striking increase” “fourfold increase” – hmm. Sounds alarming no? But let’s just say there was 1 case. So a fourfold increase is… ya. Not so terrible is it? No numbers, just alarm. Only way to keep us in line is to try to continue to scare us into submission. Nearly 2 years in, not sure that works anymore. How about being honest? “Yes there is a new version which the holy vaccines dont work well on. Ok, makes sense, it was made for version 1.0. And it seems to spread more. But good news! Doesn’t seem to be as serious as previous kinds. So everyone, relax. If you get sick, stay home with some tea and tylenol. No lockdowns needed”. And you lucky people living in places without crazy lockdowns, appreciate what you have. I live in a country with trigger happy politicians looking for any excuse to lockdown. School closures #4, we’re looking at you 🙁