MA Kids Catching COVID-19 More Often Than Adults In Latest Wave

MASSACHUSETTS — Younger Massachusetts residents have been a third more likely than their parents to be infected with coronavirus in the latest Omicron variant-fueled surge of COVID-19 cases.

For the two weeks ended Dec. 23, kids between the ages of 5 and 9 had a case rate of 1,716.8 per 100,000 people, according to data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. That case rate was more than any other age group, and followed by kids between the ages of 10 and 14, with a case rate of 1,572.2 per 100,000 people. By comparison, people between 30 and 39 had case rates of 1,270.9 per 100,000 people, while people between 60 and 69 had a case rate of 639.8 for the two-week period.

Experts say several factors are fueling the higher case counts among Massachusetts kids, including lower vaccination rates. Nationally, parents have shown more reluctance to vaccinate younger kids than older kids, and the rate at which teenagers have been vaccinated has slowed after an initial spike when the shots were first approved last summer.

"I’m not surprised … we see kids outpacing adults," Dr. Richard Malley, senior physician in pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital’s Division of Infectious Diseases, told Boston.com. "The reason for that and the reason that keeps me up at night is vaccine hesitancy."

The high infection rate comes more than two months after the federal government approved coronavirus vaccines for children between the ages of five and 12. The case rate for people under five, who are still not eligible for the vaccine, was 1,142.7 for the two weeks ended Dec. 23, the most recent period for which data was available.

So far, the higher infection rate has not led to an increase in serious cases among children, with a hospitalization rate of 3.4 per 100,000 people in the Dec. 23 report. That was up from 2.1 in the Nov. 25 report, when the current surge started, but still significantly lower than hospitalization rates for other age groups. In New York City, hospitalizations for COVID-19 among children have risen almost fivefold, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a news conference on Monday.