Omicron wave was brutal on kids; hospitalization rates 4X higher than delta’s

Enlarge / Boston Medical Center Child Life Specialist Karlie Bittrich sees to a baby while in a pediatrics tent set up outside of Boston Medical Center in Boston on April 29, 2020. (credit: Getty | Boston Globe)

Despite being widely seen as mild, the omicron coronavirus variant has been brutal on children and adolescents-particularly babies and toddlers, who are still ineligible for vaccination.

According to a study published Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the peak rate of pediatric hospitalizations during the recent omicron surge was four times higher than the peak seen during delta's wave last fall. And the largest increase was seen in children ages 0 to 4, who had a peak hospitalization rate five times higher than that seen amid delta's wave.

The study authors, led by CDC emergency response team researcher Kristin Marks, were careful to note that incidental cases of COVID-19 in hospitalized children do not account for the jump in rates amid omicron. Marks and colleagues looked carefully at medical charts from hospitalized children during both the delta and omicron waves. They compared the proportions of children coming into hospitals who had COVID-19-related symptoms at admission and were marked as being admitted specifically for COVID-19. Between the two waves, they found no significant differences in those proportions.

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