Hospitals see ‘sicker and sicker’ kids
Children winding up in ICUS as Ohio’s virus death toll tops 21,000.
Nearly 40% of the children with coronavirus at Dayton Children’s Hospital are in the ICU, said Dr. Adam Mezoff, chief medical officer and vice president of Dayton Children’s.
The hospital has about 13 children hospitalized Tuesday with COVID-19, with almost 40% in the ICU. By comparison, in the beginning of August, the hospital had one or two kids with COVID, he said.
“These are numbers we did not see at the beginning at this pandemic,” Mezoff said. “So clearly COVID has changed with the delta variant, and we are seeing sicker and sicker children.”
He joined a press conference with the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association and other physicians from children’s hospitals across the state to discuss the importance of keeping children healthy and in school as COVID19 cases continue to increase.
The news about children’s cases came on the same day the state’s death toll topped 21,000 and as the Ohio Department of Health reported more than 3,000 overall patients hospitalized with coronavirus in Ohio. It was the first time the patient count exceeded 3,000 in more than two weeks.
While initially the virus did not appear to have a severe impact on children, that’s not longer the case, Nick Lashutka, president of the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association said.
Last year, children diagnosed with COVID-19 had underlying conditions.
“In 2021, that is absolutely not the case,” he said. “The delta variant is not only more contagious, it’s impacting kids at a fundamentally higher level than what we’ve seen to date.”
At Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, the number of kids hospitalized with COVID-19 has quadrupled since midJune, said Dr. Patty Manning-courtney, chief of staff at Cincinnati Children’s.
On top of an increase of COVID cases, physicians are also seeing more cases of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus ) in children earlier than expected.
“We don’t know where the peak is,” said Lashutka, “whether it’s with COVID or whether it’s with the respiratory conditions. We don’t know what this year’s flu season will bring.”
Dayton Children’s has “essentially all hands on deck,” Mezoff said.
The hospital has staff who are out because their children are at home or are sick. Some workers are also getting burned out, he added.
“Frankly they’re getting tired and partly they’re tired because we’re not using all the tools that are available to us to limit the number of kids who have to get sick with all of these things,” Mezoff said. “Our emergency rooms are seeing numbers that they have never, ever seen at this time of year.”
To keep kids healthy and in school, the healthcare officials encouraged people who are eligible to get vaccinated, wear a face mask when needed and practice good hygiene.
“There is overwhelming evidence that prove masks are effective and they help protect against respiratory viruses including COVID,” Mezoff said. “We as adults have to allow kids to protect themselves. That’s what masks do.”
Coronavirus accou nts for 11.2% of Ohio’s hospi- tal beds and 18.15% of ICU beds, according to ODH. The state has 26.7% of hos- pital beds and 25.42% of ICU beds available.
On Aug. 25, Ohio reported 2,142 hospitalized COVID19 patients. On Tuesday, there were 3,036 patients, according to ODH.
The number of COVID patients in the state’s ICU’S has also climbed with 619 reported on Aug. 25 and 869 reported Tuesday.
In the last day, Ohio recorded 241 hospitalizations and 24 ICU admissions. The state’s 21-day average is 162 hospitalizations a day and 16 ICU admissions a day.
After dropping below 4,000 new daily cases for the first time in a week on Labor Day, Ohio reported 4,876 new cases Tuesday. That is slightly above Ohio’s 2 1-day average of 4,629 cases. In the last week, Ohio averaged 5,728 cases a day.
Ohio reported 73 deaths Tuesday, bringing the total to 21,020 since the pan- demic began, according to ODH.
Death data can fluctuate because states do not regularly report death certif- icates to Ohio’s Bureau of Vital Statistics. The day a death is reported doesn’t reflect the day the death occurred.
More than 61% of Ohio- ans 12 and older and 63.48% of adults have started the COVID-19 vaccine. About 56.5% of those 12 and older and 58.98% of adults have finished it, according to ODH.
‘There is overwhelming evidence that prove masks are effective and they help protect against respiratory viruses including COVID. We as adults have to allow kids to protect themselves. That’s what masks do.’ Dr. Adam Mezoff Chief medical officer and vice president of Dayton Children’s Hospital