NJ Hospital Preps For COVID Surge As Kids Set To Return To School

NEW JERSEY — As kids prepare to return to school in a matter of weeks, some New Jersey hospitals are preparing for a surge in pediatric COVID-19 cases.

Dr. Amisha Malhotra, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at The Bristol-Myers Squib Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, said they are "ready for pediatric COVID patients if they need to be hospitalized, as we were last year, when we did see a surge."

"We have the designated space, equipment, medications and experienced physicians and staff who have the expertise in managing the most difficult COVID patients if needed," said Malhotra.

New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said on Monday that physicians around the state are concerned about the rising rate of hospitalizations from COVID-19 and the threat of the highly transmissible delta variant.

Specifically, there are increased concerns for children returning to school that can not be vaccinated - those under the age of 12.

"What we’re worried about … is that we'll have an uptick in COVID and all these other viruses, and hospitals will become overloaded dealing with normal school viruses and the COVID burden," Dr. Katherine Clouser, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Hackensack University Medical Center’s Joseph Sanzari Children’s Hospital told the dailyrecord.com.

On Monday, there were 13 children hospitalized with COVID-19 in New Jersey including two in the intensive care unit. Read More: Rise In Child COVID Hospitalizations Prompts Vaccination Plea

In January, 0.8 percent of those being admitted to New Jersey hospitals were under the age of 18. As of Monday, it's 2.6 percent with the circulation of other respiratory viruses, said Persichilli.

Malhotra said The Bristol-Myers Squib Children's Hospital did see COVID patients in all age groups with some requiring ICU admission over the summer.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, nearly 72,000 children tested positive for COVID-19 in the last week of July. That is an increase of 84 percent over the prior week.

As of Wednesday, there are 1,569 new positive coronavirus cases and seven hospital-confirmed deaths in the past 24 hours, according to state data.

With a possible surge in cases on the horizon, the message remains the same — get vaccinated.

"It is important to remember that to keep community cases low, we must continue to vaccinate those that can be vaccinated ages 12years and older," said Malhotra. "The more people we vaccinate, the fewer community COVID cases we see - which helps protect those that are more vulnerable and/or cannot yet get vaccinated, which includes our young children."

"We've had over 130 cases in New Jersey and the children generally recover but that recovery can be slow," said Persichilli. "So all of these developments point to an urgent need for everyone to get vaccinated especially for parents to take their 12 to 17 years olds to be vaccinated as soon as possible."

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