In the face of the epidemic, we have not yet reached the time to let our guard down.
Original
You may clearly feel that the recent epidemic situation has been repeated.
According to the published data, yesterday (February 17), 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reported a total of 87 new cases, of which Inner Mongolia, the largest number of new cases, increased by 22 cases in one day.
However, what is really worrying is that a new situation has emerged in Hong Kong: many children are infected!
According to the Hong Kong Hospital Authority 2 days ago, 17% of the confirmed cases in the past 14 days were under the age of 17 and 9% of patients under the age of 6.
A few days earlier there was also a statistic showing:
Of the confirmed cases of the outbreak in Hong Kong, children no older than 4 years old account for 4%.
This almost never happened.
Hong Kong has previously suffered four waves of outbreaks, but there have been virtually no cases of child infection.
This is a very interesting new development.
This is already the fifth wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong.
Let's start with two heart-wrenching cases.
A 4-year-old boy from Nam Hang Village, Tai Tong Road, Yuen Long, began a fever on 9 February.
On February 10, he was still playing normally in the village, but he did not expect that in the early morning of the 11th, his condition suddenly worsened, and he fainted after vomiting.
After the ambulance personnel arrived, they found that the boy's pulse was already very weak, and when he was sent to the hospital, there was no heartbeat, and the doctor immediately began to rescue and play cardiotonic drugs, but he was still unable to return to heaven.
After that, the boy's nasopharyngeal discharge test result was positive, and the Ct value was 20, which is a high viral volume.
Prior to this, a total of 221 people died in Hong Kong due to the epidemic, but most of them were elderly, and the youngest one was 39 years old.
Previously, there had been no cases of child infection and death in Hong Kong.
This new situation shocked the whole of Hong Kong.
Worse things, though, happened quickly.
Staff disinfected the perimeter of the boy's home
On 12 February, a 3-year-old girl was taken to the hospital for treatment because of the virus.
Her condition deteriorated rapidly and she passed away at 8:37 p.m. on the 15th.
The girl became the youngest death in two years of the outbreak in Hong Kong.
In less than a week, two consecutive children were killed by the virus.
Many young mothers in Hong Kong have lamented that their children have basically never tried to live without the epidemic, and "they all wear masks in their lifetime".
Hong Kong Children's Hospital for girls
There has never been a child dying of the pandemic in Hong Kong, and even very few cases of infection.
This time, in less than a week, 2 children in a row were killed by the virus.
Why do children suddenly become high-risk groups?
One of the most basic reasons is that the epidemic in Hong Kong is too fierce.
Yesterday (February 17) afternoon, Hong Kong announced 6116 new cases, and there are almost 6300 initial positive cases.
Just talking about numbers, many people may not feel it.
Looking at the chart below, we can see that since the emergence of the global epidemic for 2 years, the severity of the epidemic in Hong Kong has far exceeded any of the previous four epidemics.
There is a message on the Internet: 15 people were smuggled back to the mainland from Hong Kong, and 4 of them have been diagnosed.
It can also be seen from the side that the epidemic in Hong Kong is actually very serious.
Moreover, Hong Kong's overall medical resources are already very tight.
According to statistics, the utilization rate of internal medicine beds in public hospitals is as high as 95% on average, and even some hospitals are full or exceed the level of 100% utilization rate.
Pediatric beds, overall utilization rate of 77%.
Some hospitals have had to set up tents outside the hospital as diversion areas.
The severity of this outbreak in Hong Kong is more severe than the previous four
Moreover, Hong Kong has not yet implemented strict prevention and control measures like all parts of the mainland.
There are a lot of loopholes here.
For example, foreign domestic helpers.
Because of the shortage of labor in Hong Kong, there are a large number of foreign domestic workers engaged in domestic work, nanny and other jobs.
For example, the familiar Filipino maid.
According to statistics, there are about 370,000 foreign domestic workers living in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is very difficult to manage these people.
Many foreign domestic workers insist on going out and gathering with their hometowns on rest days, and do not comply with the rules of the epidemic to maintain social distancing.
They gather in places like Central, eat in groups of three or five, take off their masks to chat, smoke cigarettes, and even sell clothes and other things in pedestrian tunnels.
Hong Kong's Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Lee Ka-chiu, stayed at home because one of the FDHs in his family had a preliminary positive covid-19 rapid test result.
FDH management is a weak link in the prevention and control of the epidemic in Hong Kong
At present, there has been widespread social dissemination in Hong Kong.
Previously, children had little access to the virus, but this time it was different, and children were almost unable to hide.
Currently, the strain of the virus circulating in Hong Kong is Omi kerong.
And the harm of Omi kerong to children is more serious than other variants of the previous new crown.
This is because the amount of virus in Omikeron is nearly 70 times higher than that of the Delta variant and the original strain, which is more damaging to the bronchial tissue of humans.
Moreover, children's trachea is smaller than that of adults, and infection with Omikejong is more likely to cause bronchitis and asthma, resulting in difficulty breathing.
A study at Seattle Children's Hospital in the United States found that among the confirmed cases of children, 48.2% of the asthma caused by Omi kerong and 2.8% of Delta.
In South Africa, where The First Discovery of Aumi kerong was first discovered, there are also studies that show that the hospitalization rate of children under 5 years old caused by Omikejong has increased by 49% compared with Thaterta, the hospitalization rate for 5 to 18 years old has increased by 25%, and the admission rate of adults has declined.
There are also data in France showing that patients infected with Omiqueron, despite the general milder symptoms, may develop a rare complication "pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome" in severely ill children, which is very dangerous.
The epidemic has lasted for more than two years, and around the Spring Festival this year, many people generally have an optimistic attitude.
However, recently, the epidemic has been repeated across the mainland.
The current outbreak in Hong Kong also shows that young children have become the target of a key threat to the virus.
It also warns us that the mutation of the virus is currently beyond human control.