Pediatric hospitalizations are rising across several states in the U.S., but there are five states in particular that are making up a majority of the increases and Illinois is one of them, according to an NBC News analysis of Department of Health and Human Services data.
The analysis found that in nearly a dozen states, the number of kids hospitalized with COVID has more than doubled since Nov. 29. But five states have reportedly contributed the most to the rise in the U.S.: Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Ohio.
The vaccination status of the children in many of these cases was not immediately known.
According data from the Illinois Department of Public Health, the state has seen spikes in youth cases in recent weeks across all age groups. Emergency room visits for such ages also increased around the holidays.
In Chicago, the number of hospitalizations for children 17 and under spiked by 155% in the last week, data showed.
Illinois' top doctor said the state is watching such numbers very closely, noting that anecdotally, doctors are reporting a rise in such hospitalizations.
"So, we have seen that [increase] in some other states very clearly," Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Monday. "We're still looking at our numbers. I have anecdotally talked to many pediatricians who are heads of departments or hospitals who are seeing that there is an increase, so we are going to continue to follow those numbers."
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The New York State Department of Health issued a warning Friday of a “striking increase” in new hospital admissions for children — particularly of unvaccinated children — amid spiraling coronavirus outbreak numbers in the state.
A health advisory said the recent fourfold increase in admissions that began the week of Dec. 5 are concentrated in New York City and the surrounding area, where the highly contagious omicron variant was spreading rapidly.
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“The risks of COVID-19 for children are real,” acting State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said in a release.
“We are alerting New Yorkers to this recent striking increase in pediatric COVID-19 admissions so that pediatricians, parents and guardians can take urgent action to protect our youngest New Yorkers. We must use all available safe and effective infection control, prevention and mitigation strategies," she said.
Ezike said should similar trends be reported in Illinois, it would be concerning given the state's capacity for treating critically ill children.
"You know, there's not that many pediatric hospitals that can especially manage a very critically ill pediatric patient," Ezike said. "So if that bears out, you know, we want to get that information and we want people to be very aware of that."
Ezike said she's not ready to "sound the alarm" just yet, but noted "we have anecdotally heard and we've seen a mild increase" in pediatric hospitalizations.
"But we expect an increase because we are seeing, even though there's not a direct proportion now, the same proportion between cases and hospitalizations. We know as the cases have increased, the hospitalizations have definitely increased," she said. "We're averaging about 500 new COVID admits a day... a day. And so as it increases in adults it's absolutely going to increase a kids. So by that, we can say yes, the numbers are up. But is it where we are running out of the pediatric hospital beds? We're not getting that, but of course, that would be a natural assumption that we're going to continue to see more people. Hopefully, it won't be so severe. We don't want to report any more deaths period and of course those pediatric deaths are especially hard to deal with."
Ezike said Monday that the state is currently seeing its highest number of cases of the entire pandemic and hospitalizations increased by 330 patients in the last 24 hours.
"It's not just about cases. If it was just cases and no one was ending up in the hospital, then let the cases be," she said.
While Ezike noted that breakthrough infections are being reported, she said that should not be a reason not to get vaccinated.
"I know there are people who will argue and push back and say, 'Oh, but we're seeing breakthrough cases. Oh, we're seeing breakthrough hospitalization. So why get vaccinated?'" Ezike said. "Admittedly, nothing is 100%. No vaccine is 100%. But if you can significantly, drastically reduce your chance of being hospitalized or dying, why wouldn't you avail yourself that opportunity?"
