Yes, COVID harms kids. Yes, even Omicron
Popular reports that have been accepted by governments and media on children and COVID have turned out to be quite wrong, but there’s been little effort to correct public belief that “kids will be mostly fine”.
As the understanding of COVID and risks is still quite new, public health experts advocate for a precautionary approach, especially with children, since they have their whole lives ahead of them. This advice is especially important now that we are entering a wave of new strains that are immune and treatment evasive.
This is part of a series of posts on COVID. As the media and governments are now sharing very little information on new covid variants, or ways to avoid getting infected (or even encouraging people to catch COVID so they don’t catch COVID), I feel obliged to share the things I’ve learned as this information is not widely so that others can make informed decisions.
I’m not a health expert, and none of this is health advice. You should apply a healthy dose of scepticism to this, and check the sources I’ve linked against Media Bias Fact Check.
Children are more likely to get and spread COVID
Modelling based on the figures from the UK Office of National Statistics indicates that children are likely to have had more infections than any other age group. Once they get it, they are more likely to transmit the virus onwards to others.
COVID does harm children
The Omicron variant of COVID is 6x more deadly than flu in children. A recent CDC presentation showed that COVID is the 5th leading cause of death in children. One fifth of all child deaths in the US occurred during the omicron surge.
The same CDC presentation noted that half of children hospitalised by COVID had no underlying conditions. If hospitalised, children may have a 1 in 14 chance of getting brain damage or going on to have seizures long term.
Children can get Long COVID
25% of children that get COVID will get at least one long term impact on their health. 1 in 6 will get a mood disorder. 1 in 10 will suffer fatigue. 1 in 12 sleep disorders. 1 in 17 inability to exercise. 1 in 22 chest pains.
Stories abound of once physically active children and teens now struggling.
As there is little understanding of Long COVID, children with ongoing symptoms may have to wait a long time for effective treatment.
(It’s also worth noting that suicide and self harm in youth decreased during lockdowns and school closures).
Children with health issues other than COVID are suffering from delayed treatments because hospitals are overwhelmed and short staffed due to COVID.
Children’s hospitals are overwhelmed
Even back in 2021, children’s hospitals were overwhelmed. One hospital was treating 25% more patients than the space was designed for.
In the UK, the waiting list of children seeking treatment is growing at an increasing rate — more and more children are waiting for care. As of April 2022, there were 350,000 children on the waiting list. Approximately 1 in 40 kids.
With another surge (and weakened immune systems from previous surges), children’s hospitals are again being overwhelmed.
Connecticut children’s hospitals are considering calling the national guard to cope with an overflow of patients with respiratory illness.
Ambulance services are overwhelmed
A mother in the UK was told to drive her child to the hospital herself when her child had a seizure because the waiting time for an ambulance was 8-hours.
Patients waited up to 36 hours for ambulances in NSW, Australia. In New Zealand a man living in the capital city, Wellington, died while waiting 6 hours for an ambulance.
What to do?
Assess the risk that you’re comfortable with.
Take steps to give yourself the best shot at avoiding and recovering quickly and fully.
