In the United States, while the Omicron variant continues to spread with nearly 190,000 new daily cases recorded over the last 7 days, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University, it is a real cry of alarm that the New York State Department of Health:
« Protect children under 5, making sure everyone around them is protected through vaccinations, reminders, wearing masks, testing, and avoiding crowds. »
Spectacular increase in pediatric hospitalizations linked to Covid
Indeed, there is reason to be alarmed because the turn taken by this fifth wave seems very worrying: the New York health authorities just reported a dramatic spike in childhood hospitalizations: children under 5, who are not old enough to be vaccinated, now represent 50% of hospitalizations related to Covid-19 in the city’s pediatric wards. As a reminder, children under 5 are currently not eligible for vaccination.
“The biggest increase concerns New York City with admissions which quadrupled” between the week of December 5 and that of December 19, specifies the press release published Friday by the New York State Department of Health which “ is closely monitoring the increase in pediatric hospitalizations associated with Covid-19″.
In a statement, Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett, quoted by NBC New York, addressed pediatricians and parents of young children:
“We are alerting New Yorkers to this recent dramatic increase in pediatric COVID-19 admissions so pediatricians, parents and guardians can take urgent action to protect our youngest New Yorkers.”
Of the other hospitalized children, those over the age of 5, in the most recent week, none of those aged 5 to 11, and only a third of children aged 12 to 17, were fully vaccinated. .
Statewide, vaccine uptake rates among children are considered low: As of Friday, just 16% of eligible children ages 5-11 and 64% of eligible children ages 12-17 were fully vaccinated. Hence the urgent request to pediatricians and parents to completely vaccinate children who can be vaccinated, in order to protect the little ones.
The state, however, has not clarified how sick these children are, notes NBC, or whether intensive care admissions or deaths have also increased.
Fauci and Biden slammed for test shortages
The arrival of the new variant, and the end-of-year celebrations, synonymous with mass travel and family reunions -despite the thousands of flight cancellations-, caused a rush on tests in the United States, where it hard to get in some places.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s main adviser in the fight against the pandemic, assured that this shortage would soon be resolved, but in January, i.e. after the holidays… said the epidemiologist, without hiding his annoyance, at the ABC channel.
Biden buys 500 million tests and makes them free for everyone
President Joe Biden himself embarrassed stepped up to the plate, announcing last week that the federal state would itself make massive purchases of tests: some 500 million kits, which will be distributed free of charge to whoever requests them. .
But as these tests will not be delivered until January, criticism does not weaken against the White House, whose strategy to fight against Covid-19 has for weeks been mainly focused on vaccination.
Jen Psaki’s blunder on free tests
These free tests offered by Biden are a way of making up for the blunder committed on December 6 by the spokesperson for the American executive, Jen Psaki, when, a few days after Omicron had been detected for the first time in the States States, she was asked about the difficulty of access to tests in the country.
In response to the question “why aren’t the tests simply free”, she was content to ironically:
“We should send a free test to all Americans, right?”
[La porte-parole de la Maison Blanche, Jen Psaki, lors de sa conférence de presse du 6 décembre: écouter la citation à 16’11. Crédit: White House, capture d’écran]
Omicron, “extraordinarily contagious” but less dangerous
Dr. Fauci also spoke on the issue of the Omicron variant and its dangerousness. For him, Omicron is an “extraordinarily contagious” variant. He, however, welcomed data from studies in South Africa and the United Kingdom which seemed to indicate less dangerous cases.
However, he warned that in no case should our guard be lowered, at the risk of ending up with what is feared the most, an overcrowding of hospital intensive care units:
“When you have such a volume of new infections, it can negate the actual decrease in dangerousness.”
California takes the lead in saving children
At the other end of the country, in California, five out of five received the warning from the New York health services, reports the Los Angeles Time (LAT) : to avoid the flooding of its pediatric services, the Californian health authorities are urging the population to take all measures as quickly as possible to secure children, starting by vaccinating all those for whom vaccination is authorized, i.e. over 5 years old.
“Unfortunately, New York is seeing an increase in pediatric hospitalizations (mostly among the unvaccinated), and they have similar vaccination rates [de 5 à 11 ans]”, wrote Dr. Erica Pan, epidemiologist for the State of California, on Twitter, quoted by the LAT. “Please offer your children vaccine protection as soon as possible, because our [nombres] cases are increasing rapidly. »
Unfortunately NY is seeing an increase in pediatric hospitalizations (primarily amongst the unvaccinated), and they have similar 5-11yo vaccination rates. Please give your children the gift of vaccine protection as soon as possible as our case #s are increasing rapidly. https://t.co/DTFUoYtGbK
— erica pan (@ericapanMD_CDPH) December 26, 2021
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(with AFP, NBC NY, LAT)
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