Not sick enough for the hospital? What parents need to know about caring for kids with COVID at home
When Nour Alideeb's son's small body began heating up Monday night, the Mississauga mother was scared.
The rising number of children and babies in hospital with Omicron was the first thing on her mind.
The biggest fear I had when my son was sick was whether he would develop long COVID, or worse, that I would lose him," she said. Parenting in a normal year is difficult enough, but in a pandemic it's even more anxiety-inducing."
With Omicron spreading so quickly and the littlest kids still not eligible for vaccines, doctors are seeing many parents like Alideeb trying to manage COVID in their children at home, sick but not sick enough for the hospital, often without a test to even confirm the disease.
Public health authorities confirmed Thursday the recent deaths of at least two COVID-positive children.
A Wellington County girl, under 10-years-old, died on Jan. 3, according to the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph public health department. Meanwhile, Toronto Public Health confirmed a recent COVID-19-related death of a child in Toronto."
But while these deaths are making headlines, and more children are landing in the hospital than in previous waves, the majority will need to be cared for by their parents.
Dr. Richard Hamat, a pediatrician at Humber River Hospital and the Vaughan Pediatric Clinic in Woodbridge, has seen an explosion" of kids with COVID or suspected COVID, at his clinic.
They're sick in a lot of cases without a place to go," he said, adding most don't need to be admitted to hospital, but they need attention."
He estimates about half of the cases he and his colleagues are seeing are kids with COVID, from babies up to teenagers, most with symptoms like fevers, coughs, poor appetite and stomach pain.
No further details were released about the death of the Wellington County girl.
The gender and age of the Toronto child were not disclosed. However, Public Health Ontario data shows the recent death of a boy under five with COVID-19. It also shows the death of a girl in the province between the ages of 12 and 19, in the last two weeks.
While case counts are no longer accurate due to restrictions in testing, over the past two weeks there have been 43 kids under four in hospital with COVID across the province, 10 kids aged 5-11 and seven aged 12-19, according to the same data. Several Ontario hospitals have also confirmed a rise in kids admitted with the disease.
But the high likelihood," though, is that kids will have a mild case, said Hamat. He and his colleagues have developed a Q and A on their website to help parents navigate this scary time.
You shouldn't panic when your kid has COVID," he said.
A few simple things will help." These include treating a fever with Tylenol or Ibuprofen, making sure the child gets a lot to drink so they stay hydrated and being aware of the signs of worsening, so that if you do need medical attention you're able to go and get it."
Warning signs include breathing hard with their chest going in and out, poor colour" and irritability" that doesn't improve once a fever has been treated and the child has been given fluids.
The majority of people of all ages will cope with COVID at home, said Dr. Derelie Mangin, professor of family medicine at McMaster University.
She's the clinical lead for the Ontario Health COVID@Home program, which provides phone checkups and, in some cases, pulse oximeters (which measure oxygen saturation in the blood) to high-risk people (over 60, with any long-term medical conditions, pregnant or unvaccinated) who can access the program through their family doctors.
The message they're trying to get out now, Mangin said, with the high number of cases is that if you're otherwise healthy and you have mild symptoms, and you're under 60, then you don't actually need to contact your primary doctor."
That applies to kids as well, and her team has developed specific guidance for parents on their website on what to watch out for," available in multiple languages.
But if the symptoms are increasing and you're worried, especially in the very young children, then do call your family practitioner, just as you normally would."
Shelly Li, a nurse practitioner with the COVIDCare@Home at Women's College Hospital, a program that provides support to people who test positive at their assessment centre, said individuals should not come into the emergency room seeking COVID testing unless you have symptoms that put you in danger," such as shortness of breath or chest pains.
Given how contagious Omicron is and the crunch that we're in," it's wise to stay home, and away from other people, she said.
Alideeb's son Yusuf, who turns two in March, started off with a low-grade fever. By Tuesday, Alideeb and her husband really began to worry.
He got worse, he was really sluggish. [The temperature] reached 40.3 [Celsius]," she said. Alideeb had received some rapid tests at work, but by the time Yusuf got sick they didn't have enough rationed."
He was not eligible to get the more accurate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test due to new rules introduced last month that only allow testing of individuals from high-risk settings.
He can't get a PCR even though he's eligible to go to daycare. I called Telehealth Ontario ... the operator said a nurse will contact us in four days," she said. You don't know what could happen in four days. That's ridiculous."
Publicly funded services are not available when they are needed most, which is fear-inducing when a child is sick, she said.
I didn't want to be another number in the hospital with my son if he's not feeling well ... because if it's just a fever, I want them to focus on the folks who need it the most," she added.
But while Yusuf's illness has now improved and she is relieved, Alideeb said she feels shortchanged" as she wasn't able to access information she needed, including whether her son actually has COVID-19 or another illness.
My family was in this position due to a number of failures. We need the government to ensure that rapid antigen tests and PCRs are easily accessible to all," she said.
With files from Grant LaFleche
May Warren is a Toronto-based breaking news reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @maywarren11
Olivia Bowden is a Toronto-based staff reporter for the Star. Reach her via email: obowden@thestar.ca