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Posted on 04/24/2021 8:46:12 AM PDT by lightman
The worst impacts of COVID-19 have shifted to younger people, who have had less opportunity to get vaccinated and may be in the biggest hurry to return to their old social routines.
“We are seeing a trend in younger individuals. That’s both cases and hospitalizations,” said Dr. Eugene Curley, an infectious disease specialist with York-based WellSpan Health.
At Penn State Children’s Hospital, more teenagers are being hospitalized with COVID-19 than during the two pandemic surges, said Dr. Jessica Ericson, a pediatric infectious disease specialist.
“We are on a regular basis taking care of critically ill children, teens and young adults,” she said.
Severe COVID-19 illness remains less common among children than any other age group. Still, some Penn State Children’s Hospital patients were so sick they couldn’t attend school for several months, according to Ericson.
In some of the worst cases, children developed blood clots and lung damage that prevented them from running or climbing stairs for weeks. They may face long-term problems — with COVID-19 being new, there’s no way to know the long-term prognosis, Ericson said.
However, no children have died of COVID-19 at Penn State Children’s Hospital, Ericson said.
For much of the pandemic, people 65 and older accounted for the vast majority of severe illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths. But illness among seniors started to plummet after vaccine became available late last year.
Now, younger adults account for the vast majority of new infections. With so many seniors vaccinated and now protected, it’s logical the hospital patient mix would trend younger. But doctors from multiple Pennsylvania health systems this week said the overall number of younger people being hospitalized has risen. It’s going on all over the country.
At Geisinger Health System, people 25-49 accounted for fewer than one hospital admission per day during Pennsylvania’s big surges, which came in early and late 2020, said Dr. Gerald Maloney, the chief medical officer. Now, an average of nearly three per day are being hospitalized.
“Fortunately, we’re still not seeing significant numbers in children and we’re not seeing significant numbers in teenagers. But right now, that 25 to 49 age group is what has caught our attention,” Maloney said.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people 18-24 account for the majority of new COVID-19 infections. Infections among 18-24-year-olds began spiking last fall and peaked around February, when the age group was being infected at a rate of 523 people per 100,000. That’s by far the highest rate for any age group during the pandemic.
But it has dropped since February, with 18-24-year-olds now getting infected at a rate of about 130 cases per 100,000 people.
The rate of infections among people 25-34 is slightly less and follows a similar trend line. The next highest rate of infections involves people 35-54.
Meanwhile, the rate of infections among older people has plunged since they began getting vaccinated in late 2020. For most of the pandemic, people 80 and older had the highest infection rate, peaking at 371 infections per 100,000 people in early 2021. That has fallen to 6 infections per 100,000 people as of April 21.
Pennsylvania doctors attribute the rise in the rate of infections among younger people mainly to lapses in social distancing and mask-wearing, and the fact they only recently became eligible for vaccine.
“I think we’re just not paying as much attention to those as we did,” Maloney said. “Spring break definitely had something to do with the current situation.”
WellSpan’s Curley said, “We just had spring break in March and watching some of those videos on the news was nauseating. Just large groups of young individuals in close proximity not wearing masks.”
Maloney said the young adults and middle-aged patients aren’t getting as severely ill and aren’t as likely to die as were older people, especially early in the pandemic. Much of that results from better understanding of COVID-19 and new treatments such as monoclonal antibody treatment, which is the one given to former President Donald Trump.
Dr. Kate Kernan, a pediatrician at UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, believes upticks in cases among children are likely the result of increased exposure from things such as more children returning to classrooms. She sees no evidence children are getting any sicker than during earlier in the pandemic.
“We haven’t started to see new groups of children with severe illness,” she said. “Nothing I have seen is about changing disease patterns … For the most part, infections in children have been mild.”
Still, she pointed out that, while it’s rare, some children become severely ill. Some come down with a severe respiratory disorder, with those children typically already having another chronic illness that makes them vulnerable.
Another small group has come down with multisystem inflammatory syndrome, which typically arises about four weeks after a child comes down with COVID-19. Kernan says those children become severely ill, but “are very responsive to treatment.”
Kernan said she knows of no children dying of COVID-19 related causes at her hospital.
Ericson believes it’s too soon to know if the virus has changed in a way that causes more severe impacts for younger people.
She said it’s estimated variant strains now account for more than half of local cases. It means people who have been previously infected might not be immune, and the prevalent strains are more contagious.
“That puts us in a situation where another spike is expected,” she said. “It means measures we’ve been using, like social distancing, might be slightly less effective than they were a year ago … So we have to do them more well, and more consistently, to get the same effect we had a year ago.”
WellSpan’s Curley noted that, throughout the pandemic, there have been rare cases of younger people with no risk factors becoming severely ill and needing to be hospitalized, including some that needed to be put on a breathing ventilator or who died.
“It’s just very random, even within this younger group, who is going to get sick or more severe disease, who’s going to end up in the hospital, and who may be able to kick this at home within a week’s time. So it’s just very difficult to predict,” he said.
Several doctors interviewed for this article stressed we’re at a critical time in the COVID-19 pandemic. A large portion of seniors have been vaccinated, including most long term care residents in Pennsylvania, making them much safer.
Now vaccine is available to anyone 16 or older. Yet demand for vaccine is falling, with a significant number of people saying they won’t get vaccinated, with their views often based on misinformation.
That makes it uncertain whether the U.S. will reach the goal of 70-90% of its population being vaccinated. Scientists say it least 70% of the population must be vaccinated to stamp out COVID-19 as a serious health threat.
Moreover, people who aren’t vaccinated give COVID-19 the opportunity to find hosts and mutate into variants that are potentially more contagious and more harmful. It could lead to strains that aren’t blocked by the existing vaccines.
Some experts are stressing the view that, no matter where someone comes down on the politics surrounding COVID-19, virtually everyone wants to resume a life resembling the old normal. They say it will take two things to accomplish that: The vast majority of people getting vaccinated. And continuing preventive steps including mask-wearing and social distancing until that happens.
But if we fail, and more contagious variants become rampant, it could put us back where we were at the start of the pandemic.
“This is our chance to end this without having more of us lose loved ones and lose our jobs,” Ericson said.
Ericson and Kernan said they expect the vaccination recommendation will soon extend to children, and see that as a good thing.
Ericson said a trial is underway to determine the correct vaccine dose for children as young as six months. Results might be available this summer or fall.
“Our expectation is that COVID-19 vaccine will be recommended for people who are six months old and older,” she said.
Ericson said even through COVID-19 illness is rare in children, those who get it can suffer lasting damage.
“I can’t wait until I can immunize my children,” she said. “If I can prevent my five-year-old from getting cancer when they’re 30 or having a heart attack when they’re 50, I’m really excited to be able to do that for their long term health.”
Pennsylvania Ping!
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COVID Propaganda
The odds of all this being outright lies is 100%.
Obesity in young people.
Yeah, there are so many self cancelling notions presented as to make this laughable.
BTW, when addressing the senior residential facilities, they failed to mention that “the thing” moved his parents out.
Young kids getting infected and recovering from COVID-19 just accelerates the arrival of herd immunity. That’s not a bad thing.
bs meter pegs 100
Yes! Lies, lies and more lies!
First of all, they haven’t even had the time to research this.
Secondly, teachers want to stay home and teach over their computers-if you want to call what they are doing teaching.
It is time to quit classifying everyone with a fever as covid positive.
If they really wanted to do something constructive, they would close our borders, but they don’t. So all of these covid RESTRICTIONS are a MOOT point. How bad can this “covid uptick” be if they refuse to close the borders and restrict flights?
Nah....it is just another Flu...will disappear in summer /S
“We are seeing a trend in younger individuals. That’s both cases and hospitalizations,” said Dr. Eugene Curley, an infectious disease specialist with York-based WellSpan Health.
At Penn State Children’s Hospital, more teenagers are being hospitalized with COVID-19 than during the two pandemic surges, said Dr. Jessica Ericson, a pediatric infectious disease specialist.
Again.....how many of these *teenagers* are the infected illegals, being imported, and scattered, everywhere?
See my post 11.
Of course - first the Seniors, then college students - now kids - what next?
My friend has a daughter at Ohio U - she has been tested over 11 times by the schools “health department” they claim it is random test.
PROPAGANDA JOE GOEBBELS WOULD BE PROUD OF...
Joe learned from the guys who got us into WWI.
You coined it perfectly! I watched Hutchinson’s (Arkansas Gov) weekly covid briefing on Tuesday. He had charts of age groups who have been vaccinated, and remarked the youngest group (ages 16 to 18) had the lowest percentage and urged them to roll up sleeves. He went on to say (with a big smile) by late summer the vaccines would be open to include ages 12 to 16. Also if what I’ve read is correct, they hope to include even younger children by next spring. So comes these types of articles, to create parent panic so they get on board the vaccination train. Funny to think back, less then a year ago we were told kids were low risk, had mild to no symptoms and weren’t spreaders.
Fat Lives Matter
another Nobel Prize for the MAKER of the
GAin-of-Function CoronaVIRUS: FauXi and the CDC.
All hail them with new royalties.
ROYALTIES AND NO LAWSUITS. EVER.
(nor was there informed consent. only FORCED INFECTIONS
FOR FORCED Vaccinations).
Would this be a result of isolation, lack of exercise, and constant mask wearing?
The article pretty much disputes the headline.
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