It seems frightening at first glance: In the USA and Germany, Omikron has increased the number of infected children in hospitals. However, there is still no concrete data on severe courses among children. The situation in the children’s hospitals is not worrying at the moment: “So far nothing has happened in our wards that would justify an increased alert,” says Christoph Aebi, head physician for infectious diseases at the University Children’s Hospital in Bern. The number of children with Covid 19 infection in hospitals is actually increasing. “But that doesn’t mean that these children will be treated for this infection,” says the pediatrician.
As the eXXpress reported, half of all corona intensive care patients would not be hospitalized because of the infection. It is the same with children. All children in the hospital are currently being tested for Covid-19. So also those who were hospitalized because of a broken leg, for example.
“The children often have the corona infection on the side,” emphasizes Aebi in the “NZZ”. In the case of infants under three months of age, the doctors even quickly released the children if it was only corona and, for example, no bacterial infection of the lungs.
Because the adults are often vaccinated but the children are not, the increase in the number of cases in the children appears to be higher. The number of hospitalized children is growing proportionally, as was to be expected. And so you can see that Omikron is no more dangerous for children than it is for adults. In addition, one could not observe any more severe courses in them either.
Of course, there is still the question of long-term consequences, such as Long Covid and MIS-C (Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children), a severe inflammatory reaction that occurs four to eight weeks after a corona illness. It can affect children and adolescents, is potentially life-threatening and can cause permanent damage.
