Adolescent hospitalizations increase

CDC, adolescents aged 12–17 years

Covid-19 hospitalization rates, among adolescents

Declined in January and February

Increased during March to April

Variants, return to school, behavioural change

Severe disease that requires hospitalization occurs in all age groups

Some risk of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children

COVID-19–associated hospitalizations, January 1–March 31

CDC’s covid-19-associated surveillance network

Laboratory-confirmed covid-19 hospitalizations

99 counties across 14 states

Covering about 10 percent of the U.S. population

376 hospitalized with a positive test

204 hospitalized primarily for CoViD

But, of these 204, 64 (31.4%) admitted to ICU

4.9% required invasive mechanical ventilation

No associated deaths

Among the 204 patients

52.5% were female

31.4% were Hispanic or Latino

35.8% were non-Hispanic Black

70.6% had one or more underlying medical conditions

Obesity, 35.8%

Chronic lung disease, including asthma, 30.9%

Neurologic disorders, 14.2%

Nearly 30% no reported underlying condition

March 1, 2020 to April 24, 2021

COVID-19–associated adolescent hospitalization rate, 12.5 times lower than aged ≥18 years

Adolescent hospitalization rates comparable to aged 0–4 years,

but higher than rates among children aged 5–11

October 1, 2020 to April 24, 2021

2.5–3.0 times higher than influenza-associated hospitalization rates

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky

I am deeply concerned by the numbers of hospitalized adolescents and saddened to see the numbers of adolescents who required treatment in intensive care units or mechanical ventilation

Much of this suffering can be prevented

Vaccination is our way out of this pandemic

I continue to see promising signs in CDC data that we are nearing the end of this pandemic in this country;

however, we all have to do our part and get vaccinated to cross the finish line

Andrew Pavia, professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases, University of Utah

Flu very rarely causes long-term symptoms and organ damage — unlike covid-19

Adolescents have many reasons to get vaccinated as soon as possible,

including their own health,

the ability to help control covid-19 among more vulnerable groups

and the ability to return to normal life

Dave Rubin, director PolicyLab, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

You may see some vestiges of outbreaks in particular areas that have lower vaccination rates,

but they’ll be harder to sustain themselves and actually grow into these major outbreaks