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Does this directly contradict this claim? (Not to mention how old this article is... ) US children hospitalized with COVID in near-record numbers https://apnew

Does this directly contradict this claim? (Not to mention how old this article is... ) US children hospitalized with COVID in near-record numbers https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-pandemics-seattle-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-75a48388d6ca85ad88de300f32bfdec6 https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-pande... (that is an ugly ugly link, apologies even though there's not a lot I can do there)

pontus 5y ago
They specifically refer to the increased rate of hospitalization in the article. Their refutation is that about half of the hospitalizations are actually due to other reasons like broken bones and that mandatory Covid tests uncover an otherwise asymptomatic case. However due to reporting rules, apparently these cases are still considered Covid hospitalizations.
aaomidi 5y ago
That number I think matches what flu hospitalization is for children. Otoh (not saying you don't know this) viruses don't just "kill" or "not kill". They can have serious, life altering changes on people. So just measuring hospitalization or death isn't that useful.
singlow 5y ago
I don't think so. Rate of infection and risk of illness are two separate statistics that may not be correlated. It doesn't mention whether the child hospitalization rate is higher or lower for Covid vs the flu. The near-record numbers are only compared to previous Covid hospitalizations. All that means is we are close to having as many sick children with covid as we have had at any point since the pandemic started. It doesn't say anything about severity compared to flu. Comparing hospitalization rates with the flu is difficult. If a child has Covid and has moderately severe symptoms, they are probably more likely to go to the hospital than a child with the same level of symptoms and the flu, just because Covid is less familiar. That is especially true if you are looking at flu hospitalizations from pre-pandemic periods. Comparing mortality would probably be more relevant. A child with the Flu in 2019 was probably not going to go to the hospital unless she was turning blue or had an extremely high fever. With Covid i would probably take my child to the hospital if she was having any difficulty breathing, at a threshold much lower than what I would have gotten concerned about for the flu. That may or may not be a valid distinction for a parent to make. This research suggests that a parent of a child with flu or covid should probably have the same level of precaution.
guilhas 5y ago
Probably no There are a lot of respiratory virus and children were already hospitalized at record numbers before omicron My healthy child has already been on antibiotics 3 separate weeks since September. One chest infection. Keeps coughing. Already had a lot of negative pcr tests because the nursery demands. Every time I go to the GP there are 2 or 3 other children waiting

pontus 5y ago

They specifically refer to the increased rate of hospitalization in the article. Their refutation is that about half of the hospitalizations are actually due to other reasons like broken bones and that mandatory Covid tests uncover an otherwise asymptomatic case. However due to reporting rules, apparently these cases are still considered Covid hospitalizations.

aaomidi 5y ago

That number I think matches what flu hospitalization is for children. Otoh (not saying you don't know this) viruses don't just "kill" or "not kill". They can have serious, life altering changes on people. So just measuring hospitalization or death isn't that useful.

singlow 5y ago

I don't think so. Rate of infection and risk of illness are two separate statistics that may not be correlated. It doesn't mention whether the child hospitalization rate is higher or lower for Covid vs the flu. The near-record numbers are only compared to previous Covid hospitalizations. All that means is we are close to having as many sick children with covid as we have had at any point since the pandemic started. It doesn't say anything about severity compared to flu. Comparing hospitalization rates with the flu is difficult. If a child has Covid and has moderately severe symptoms, they are probably more likely to go to the hospital than a child with the same level of symptoms and the flu, just because Covid is less familiar. That is especially true if you are looking at flu hospitalizations from pre-pandemic periods. Comparing mortality would probably be more relevant. A child with the Flu in 2019 was probably not going to go to the hospital unless she was turning blue or had an extremely high fever. With Covid i would probably take my child to the hospital if she was having any difficulty breathing, at a threshold much lower than what I would have gotten concerned about for the flu. That may or may not be a valid distinction for a parent to make. This research suggests that a parent of a child with flu or covid should probably have the same level of precaution.

guilhas 5y ago

Probably no There are a lot of respiratory virus and children were already hospitalized at record numbers before omicron My healthy child has already been on antibiotics 3 separate weeks since September. One chest infection. Keeps coughing. Already had a lot of negative pcr tests because the nursery demands. Every time I go to the GP there are 2 or 3 other children waiting