More Children Heading To ER With COVID-19

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – In the mediate of the vacation season, COVID cases are mode up, and that includes children.

“What we’ve seen successful the children’s infirmary with this surge is an tremendous fig of children coming done our exigency section successful particular,” said Dr. Ronald Ford.

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Ford is the main aesculapian serviceman astatine Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. He said they’re approaching the aforesaid level of affirmative cases they saw with the delta surge.

“Two weeks agone we were seeing astir 20 affirmative cases travel done our exigency department.  Now we’re seeing upwards of 50-60 a day. In immoderate cases, we’ve seen good implicit 400 successful the period of December truthful far, and astir of those successful the past week,” Dr. Ford said.

One encouraging note, of the children who are investigating positive, it’s lone a fewer who necessitate hospitalization.

“The severity of unwellness is overmuch milder, for instance, than what we saw with the Delta variant. Most of these kids are not requiring hospitalization due to the fact that they’re sick with COVID,” Dr. Ford said.

At Nicklaus Children’s Hospital the main aesculapian serviceman reports they are seeing a emergence successful the fig of hospitalized children with COVID.

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Currently, 14 are hospitalized. Two weeks agone the infirmary averaged 2 to 3 patients per week.

The infirmary says contempt the fig of kids being treated, the hospitalization complaint is not arsenic precocious arsenic erstwhile strains. They accidental the accrued kids successful the infirmary is owed to the sheer measurement of children investigating positive.

And South Florida isn’t unsocial successful the rising cases of pediatric positives. In fact, nationwide hospitals are seeing an mean of 260 pediatric COVID hospitalizations a time – that’s up astir 30% from past week. The proposal from the experts is to get your children vaccinated.

“The vaccine is truthful overmuch safer than getting the microorganism itself,” said Dr. Sallie Permar from New York Presbyterian Hospital.  “So getting your kid the vaccine keeps them safer than letting them get infected with this microorganism without immoderate immunity from a vaccine.”

Dr. Ford warns present is the clip to enactment – don’t wait.

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“We don’t truly cognize what’s astir the country with this and we expect different variants to travel down the pike. Some of those whitethorn beryllium much mild similar the omicron variant and others whitethorn beryllium much severe, similar we saw with delta,” helium said.

Ted Scouten