COVID Hospitalizations Among MD Children Up As Omicron Spreads

MARYLAND — The omicron coronavirus variant has found a new population to exploit — unvaccinated children — spurring a 35 percent increase nationwide in pediatric hospitalizations in the past week, according to new federal health data.

Two dozen states including Maryland reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention an increase in pediatric hospitalizations — that is, children 17 and younger — as the virus surges nationwide.

In Maryland, hospitalizations in this age group are up from .7 of 100,000 patients age 17 and younger on Dec. 1 to .26 per 100,000 population for the week that ended Christmas Day.

As of Tuesday, there are 19 pediatric patients in Maryland hospitals with COVID-19, according to the Maryland Department of Health. Three are in the ICU and 16 are in acute care, data shows.

A Johns Hopkins pediatrician told the Washington Post that children with coronavirus infections are tending to get fevers. Parents should assume that "it's omicron until proven otherwise," if their children appear to have colds.

"Right now the dominant cause of symptoms that look like cold is probably covid," Dr. Aaron Milstone, professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, told the Post.

More than 7.5 million children — or about 1 in 10 in the United States — have tested positive for the virus since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020.

Maryland has reported 134,753 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among those ages 0 to 19 years old since the pandemic began. That represents about 20 percent of the state's total case count, which is 675,364.

As more children test positive for the virus, school systems are taking note. Baltimore City Public Schools extended its winter break by two days to allow for staff and pupils to get tested for COVID-19.

Prince George's County Public Schools went virtual Dec. 20 due to an increase in coronavirus cases, and it will continue with remote instruction until Jan. 18.

Four Maryland schools reported outbreaks with more than 100 cases for the week ending Dec. 22, according to the Maryland Department of Health: Chesapeake High School in Anne Arundel County with 122 positive cases, Youth's Benefit Elementary School in Harford County with 116 cases, Oakland Mills High School in Howard County with 114 cases and Atholton High School in Howard County with 101 cases.

See Also:

• Baltimore City Extends Winter Break To Allow For COVID-19 Testing
• Virtual Learning Resumes For PGCPS Students Due To COVID Surge

The 199,000 pediatric COVID-19 cases reported nationwide for the week ending Dec. 23 represent a 50 percent increase in positive cases for that age group since the beginning of December.

This is the 20th week in a row with pediatric COVID-19 cases above 100,000 in the United States. Since the first week in September, more than 2.5 million U.S. children have become infected with the coronavirus illness.

The spread of the illness among children is keenly felt in New York City, where the number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 increased fivefold. About half of those kids are under the age of 5 and not eligible to get vaccinated.

• Related: NYC Sees Huge Spike In Children Hospitalized With COVID-19

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, which susses out CDC data to provide insight into virus trends among children, said that so far, it appears that severe COVID-19 illnesses are uncommon.

“However,” the groups said on the AAP website, “there is urgent need to collect more data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants as well as the longer-term impacts of the pandemic on children, including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects.”

Experts warn the pediatric cases reported so far may be a calm before the storm brewing in holiday gatherings.

"It's almost like you can see the train coming down the track and you're just hoping it doesn't go off the rails," Dr. Claudia Hoyen, director of pediatric infection control at UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, told CNN.

"It's going to be a very interesting couple of weeks. We've just had all of these kids mixing together with everybody else during Christmas," Hoyen said. "We have one more holiday to get through with New Year's, and then we'll be sending everybody back to school.”

— By Patch editors Beth Dalbey and Elizabeth Janney