According to US media reports, due to the spread of the Omiljung variant, the number of confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia in the United States has increased sharply, and the number of hospitalized children has hit a record high. Experts say most children are not vaccinated against the new crown virus.
Dr Paul O'Fert, an infectious disease specialist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said: "It's heartbreaking. It was hard enough last year, and now I know there is a way to stop it, but it's still so hard. ”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on December 30 that an average of 378 children aged 17 and under were hospitalized with COVID-19 every day during the week of December 22-28, a 66 percent increase over the previous week. The last peak since the OUTBREAK began was in early September, when an average of 342 children were hospitalized every day, CDC said.
Dr. Albert, a professor of epidemiology and infectious diseases at the Yale School of Public Health, noted that low vaccination rates are partly a matter of time, with younger children not being allowed to be vaccinated until November and many children only starting a second dose now.
Ofit said none of the eligible children who were treated at his hospital about a week ago had been vaccinated. But it's worth noting that two-thirds of these children have underlying illness, chronic lung disease or, more commonly, obesity, which puts them at greater risk when they get vaccinated.
Ofit said the scenes were particularly heartbreaking. "They have trouble breathing and they cough incessantly," he said. A small number of children were even sent to the intensive care unit for sedation treatment, and their parents cried on the spot when we put the device connected to the ventilator in their throats. Ofit also said the next 4 to 6 weeks will be tough because the coronavirus is a virus that will be more rampant in the winter.
Overall, confirmed cases of all ages in the United States reached record highs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the highly contagious Omiljung accounted for 59 percent of new cases last week.
In California, 80 children infected with COVID-19 were hospitalized in the week of Dec. 20-26, compared with just 50 in the last week of November, health officials said.
Seattle Children's Hospital also reported an increase in the number of children admitted to the hospital over the past week. While their condition was milder than those hospitalized in the summer, Dr John McGuire warned that this was the early stages of the Opmikron wave and that its full impact would be felt in the coming weeks.
In addition, new York health authorities sounded the alarm. In New York, the number of hospitalizations for COVID-19 patients rose from 22 on Dec. 5 to 109 on Dec. 24. In total, nearly 5,000 people in New York have been hospitalized for COVID-19.
US media pointed out that during the epidemic, there were very few cases of children who died of new crown pneumonia. But according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, as of last week, 721 children in the United States had died of COVID-19.
On December 30, local time, according to data from Johns Hopkins University in the United States, as of 16:21 EASTERN TIME (5:21 Beijing time on December 31), the cumulative number of confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia in the United States reached 54.215085 million, and the cumulative number of deaths was 824,052. Compared with 24 hours ago, the two data showed 708,082 new confirmed cases and 1,856 new deaths.
EDIT: DXY
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