Bönen / Kreis Unna – It is the elderly who were previously considered to be particularly at risk. But now increasingly younger people are falling ill with Covid-19, and the pathogen does not stop at children either. During the first two corona waves, the incidences of those up to the age of 15 were generally lower than that of the general population. Now, with the third wave, the number of cases is climbing rapidly. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the strongest increase can be observed in children between the ages of 0 and 14. In this age group, the seven-day incidences have more than doubled within a month. This development is also noticeable in the Unna district and in Bönen.
In his pediatric practice in the community, Dr. Jürgen Krüger are now treating several young Covid patients. “There are not that many, but we have already had a few cases,” reports the pediatrician. The little patients who come to him naturally complain of symptoms, and they are similar to those of the flu.
“Croup-like cough and fever,” says Krüger, naming two very typical symptoms of illness in young corona patients. Some of the children he treated were so severe that he had to refer them to hospital for inpatient treatment. The youngest patient he had to treat for Covid-19 was a nine month old baby. The girls and boys who contracted the virus would not have had any previous illnesses. “They were otherwise totally healthy children,” said Krüger. Most of them, however, would have had their parents infected.
He now regularly carries out PCR tests on children in his practice on Bahnhofstrasse. In recent times, these have mainly been checks after a positive rapid test, such as those carried out in schools before the Easter break. His employees have only given two appointments for this today. “The rapid tests are very good and very reliable. The scraping should be expanded ”, wishes Jürgen Krüger. In his opinion, this would increase safety in schools and daycare centers and break the chains of infection more quickly.
Vaccinations for children and adolescents
He therefore recommends that families take children and young people to the rapid test centers offered free of charge in the community – for example before visiting their grandparents at Easter. “But that only works with children from the age of twelve,” says the doctor. If family members then test positive for the corona virus, younger children can be smeared in his practice.
Nevertheless, only a PCR test is possible there, which is checked in a laboratory and the result is therefore not immediately available. “Unfortunately, we cannot carry out mass tests like those in the rapid test centers,” says Krüger. The doctor wishes that children can soon also be vaccinated against corona. “Studies are currently in progress,” the expert knows. He hopes that the right vaccine will not be too long in coming. “We are fighting the virus – vaccination would be a good remedy,” says Dr. Kruger.
The new course of the pandemic shows that a vaccine is urgently needed for children and adolescents: According to the State Health Center (LZG) – as of Monday morning – 53 girls and boys up to nine years of age from the Unna district are acutely infected, 56 children and adolescents between ten and 19 years. A month ago there were only twelve children up to nine years and 18 to 19 years who were affected. A look at the statistics shows that the numbers are actually increasing week by week.
Third wave also affects the youngest
When the pandemic reached the Unna district and its ten associated municipalities last year, only individual cases in these age groups were initially identified from mid-March. There were double-digit values for the first time in June. In late summer, the curve flattened again significantly for infected children and adolescents, until it reached its provisional high in November and December with the second wave in these groups as well. For ten- to 19-year-olds this was so far reached on November 3rd with 161 people affected, with children up to nine years of age on December 14th with 92 people who tested positive. Particularly sad: According to the LZG, there was already a child under the age of ten who died of Covid-19.
Experts suspect that the virus mutations are one reason why more and more children and adolescents are noticeably infected. For example, the British variant B.1.1.7 is obviously much more contagious and aggressive than the “normal” Sars-Cov-2 and “catches” more young people.
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