COVID Hospitalizations Among Children Spike In Illinois

CHICAGO — The omicron coronavirus variant has found a new population to exploit — unvaccinated children — and that has spurred a 35 percent increase nationwide in pediatric hospitalizations over the last week, according to new federal health data.

Two dozen states and New York City reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention an increase in pediatric hospitalizations — that is, children 17 and younger — as the virus surges nationwide.

In Illinois, the number of children under age 18 admitted to hospitals with confirmed cases of COVID-19 rose by nearly 40 percent in a week to a seven-day average of 14. That is the state's highest rate of pediatric coronavirus hospitalizations on record with the CDC.

The 199,000 pediatric COVID-19 cases reported nationwide for the week ending Dec. 23 represent a 50 percent increase in positive cases for that age group since the beginning of December. More than 7.5 million children — or about 1 in 10 in the United States — have tested positive for the virus since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020.

This is the 20th week in a row with pediatric COVID-19 cases above 100,000. Since the first week in September, more than 2.5 million U.S. children have become infected with the coronavirus illness.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), more than 65 percent of people aged 22 and younger are fully vaccinated and about 73 percent have received at least one dose.

Data from the state public health agency shows that the share of COVID-19 emergency department visits that were under 18 hit an all-time high on Christmas Day, with 10 percent of coronavirus-related ER visits made up of children under 5, and 13 percent made up of children ages 5 to 17.

IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said while "we have seen that [increase] in some other states very clearly, we're still looking at our numbers" in Illinois. Ezike said she's not ready to "sound the alarm" Ezike noted, "we have anecdotally heard, and we've seen a mild increase" in pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations, NBC Chicago reported.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, which susses out CDC data to provide insight into virus trends among children, said that so far, it appears that severe COVID-19 illnesses are uncommon.

“However,” the groups said on the AAP website, “there is urgent need to collect more data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants as well as the longer-term impacts of the pandemic on children, including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects.”

The spread of the illness among children is also keenly felt in New York City, where the number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 increased fivefold. About half of those kids are under the age of 5 and not eligible to get vaccinated.

Related: NYC Sees Huge Spike In Children Hospitalized With COVID-19

The CDC released updated estimates Tuesday showing that the fast-spreading omicron variant accounted for 59 percent of the nation's new cases last week.

Experts warn the pediatric cases reported so far may be a calm before the storm brewing in holiday gatherings.

"It's almost like you can see the train coming down the track and you're just hoping it doesn't go off the rails," Dr. Claudia Hoyen, director of pediatric infection control at UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, told CNN.

"It's going to be a very interesting couple of weeks. We've just had all of these kids mixing together with everybody else during Christmas. We have one more holiday to get through with New Year's, and then we'll be sending everybody back to school.”