Public health officials and politicians have repeated the statement many times, as well as magazines such this, that Covid-19 has become a pandemic. It's easy to write this line because it is true. Breakthrough infections among the vaccinated can be a problem, as the virus is slipping away from our collective immunity. However, severe illness and death are almost exclusively concentrated among those who have not yet received the shot.
Who are these unvaccinated people? They are becoming more common among the young. Because no vaccine has been approved for them, the youngest group is the little ones. The situation is not much worse for older children. According to data gathered by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only a third of children aged 12-15 in the US have been fully vaccinated. This figure is lower than the average for those in their late teens and twenties. It's not surprising that 22 percent of all US cases in the third week, or 180,000, were reported by children. This is an increase from the 14 percent overall share since the outbreak. This weekly number is twice what it was at beginning of the month. It is putting pressure on pediatric units across the US, particularly in areas where the highly transmissible Delta virus is raging.
Abdallah Dalabih, a critical-care physician at Arkansas Childrens Hospital where Covid-19 admissions to Arkansas' only pediatric ICU soared in August, and have remained stubbornly, said that we saw our spike when people began to drop their masks and socialize again.
Kofi Asarebawuah, a Springfield pediatrician at CoxHealth, said that while we all believed we were done with Covid this summer, it didn't stop us from having many interactions. The Ozarks region saw one of the earliest Delta surges in America in July. Now, there is an increase in cases of MISC in the area. This is an inflammatory immune condition that can affect young people only weeks after they are infected. Asare-Bawuahs has sent three children suffering from life-threatening conditions to St. Louis for treatment.
David Fisman, an epidemiologist from the University of Toronto, said that this is a debilitating reality that goes against the narrative that the pandemic should end. He said, "Were all sick of it," pausing to acknowledge the sympathetic look across the room from his daughter, 9 years old, who was also tired of hearing about this pandemic. It's also a confusing reality. The pandemic rules that were established 18 months ago looked something like this: Young and less vulnerable people are to stay at home and take precautions to protect older adults and people with pre-existing conditions. This understanding was based on the pandemic's silver lining: young people are less likely to become seriously ill and need to be admitted to the hospital or die. This is an unusual pattern for respiratory diseases that often affect children as well as adults.
Fisman and other experts worry that fatigue and a lack of attention to the risks to children are making it harder to take precautions, while transmission is increasing among children. He believes that older people are more concerned about risk than they should be. Maybe we have lost our sense of control a bit too quickly, and it is time to reevaluate. These are the basics:
Why isn't the virus affecting children as much as it does adults?
Researchers who study the immune system feel more confident in recent months. One thing that makes children more resilient to infection by Covid-19 is the fact that their immune systems are stronger. Kerstin Meyer is a principal scientist at Wellcome Sanger Institute, who studied the differences between child and adult immune responses. One characteristic of Covid-19 infection in older adults is that the initial warning signs are often suppressed. This prevents the critical early response from increasing. This allows the virus spread quickly to the upper airways, and eventually into the lungs where it can cause more severe illness. Meyer states that this viral sneakiness can be prevented in children. The immune system is more geared to a rapid response than cells in the throat and nose, so mild symptoms are usually the end of the infection.
What if this doesn't stop it from getting worse? Children still have some advantages. An adaptive immune response soon joins the innate immune system. This force recruits and multiplies certain cells to fight specific pathogens. Young bodies may have more flexible immune systems. These B and T cells can be adapted to handle previously encountered infections in adults. However, when confronted with a new pathogen like SARS-CoV-2 there are less available cells to learn new tricks. Sometimes, adult immune cells recruit immune cells that are not suitable for the task. This can cause runaway effects and damage to the body as well as failure to eradicate the virus. Young people are more likely to produce antibodies against the new infection because they have a wider range of immune cells. They quickly learn new lessons, much like a child learning a new language.
Are Delta's effects on children more severe than those of other varieties?
The Delta variant has not been shown to be more dangerous to children than to adults, although there is some evidence. The CDC has not yet provided a breakdown for children, although there is some evidence that Delta infections are more severe than others. Fisman has been monitoring the hospitalization rates among young people in Ontario. He found that children younger than 10 years old who have been infected by Delta are twice as likely as those with other variants to be admitted. The data is not yet complete in the province. There are only 1,300 Delta-infected children under 10 years old, and only 26 of them are hospitalized. It is difficult to determine the relative risk of ICU admissions or death. Fisman's confidence in his conclusion is growing as more data is available. He says that the stakes are higher for children.
Fisman says that the bigger problem is the speed at which Delta travels through unvaccinated populations. According to the CDC, the arrival of variants means that more children with Covidless than 1% will be hospitalized. This is still a small percentage. However, with the virus spreading at an increasingly rapid pace, the number of cases is becoming more meaningful. Fisman said that rare events are more common. This is the biggest worry.
