Primary school children who see critically ill children contract COVID; Utah confirms 2,165 new cases

SALT LAKE CITY – Although doctors acknowledge that COVID-19 often causes minor symptoms in children, officials at Children’s Primary Hospital say they face an influx of patients with coronavirus and other respiratory infections, often in the same time.

A teenage patient died at the hospital last week from COVID-19.

“It was absolutely devastating for the staff here,” Dr. Andrew Pavia said Thursday during a press conference.

According to the pediatric infectious disease expert and director of pediatric primary school epidemiology, children’s hospitals nationwide (including Utah’s only children’s hospital) are “packed to the brim” and operate with extreme overload. . This includes placing two children in each room and canceling major surgeries to make room in the intensive care unit, Pavia said.

Meanwhile, Thursday, Utah health officials reported 2,165 new cases of COVID-19, the highest in a single day since Jan. 26, and 10 new deaths.

School-age children accounted for 544 of the cases: 231 of the cases ranged from 5 to 10 years, 152 from 11-13 years and 161 from 14 to 17 years, according to the Utah Department of Health.

The continuous seven-day average for new cases stands at 1,431 daily and the positive percentage of people tested is 12.3%.

On Thursday, 516 patients were hospitalized with coronavirus across Utah, 33 more than the day before. Intensive care units, which can treat the most serious patients, are full of 92.5% and the overall use of the ICU is now 88.2%. Beds in non-intensive units across the state are 63.1% full.

Across the United States, the number of children infected with COVID-19 last week was 250,000, more than on any other occasion during the pandemic, he said, which caused a change in behavior, according to Pavia.

The proportion of cases in children in Utah is rising “even faster,” he said. Last winter, 12% of cases were children on average. It is now 25%, “although it is very difficult to test your children,” the doctor said.

People “trust a lot” in the fact that most children only have mild illnesses, but every time a child gets sick a parent has to stay home from work, siblings get quarantined and a child a school week is lost, Pavia pointed out.

“So these mild diseases are not trivial because people like to represent them. They have a huge impact,” he said.

And a small minority of children get really sick, he said, noting that 30,000 U.S. children were hospitalized last week with the disease.

The strain at the Primary Children’s Hospital is not due to COVID-19 itself, but to its combination with cases of trauma and seasonal RSV. The coronavirus is the “straw that breaks the camel’s back in the health system,” Pavia said.

Jacob Ferrin, a registered nurse in the pediatric ICU at Children’s Primary Hospital, noted that the regional hospital is considered a “last line of defense” for children not only in the state of Beehive, but among Denver in Los Angeles and Phoenix in Canada.

With critical cases for adults, it is often due to age-related health issues, Ferrin said. But for children, something “builds badly” or something happens to them to put them at risk.

Ferrin said hospital children with inflammation from other viruses also contract COVID-19, prolonging critical care stays.

“When kids have so much inflammation all over their body, everything hurts. Their eyes can turn very red, it hurts when you touch their arm,” he said.

The nurses who work in the pediatric ICU “are very aware of our mission and who we serve. Since I have been able to be part of the team, I feel part of one of the best clinical and social teams I have. We help patients and families facing situations that come to them in the worst days of their lives and, since the pandemic has begun, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of people who have the worst day of their lives, ”Ferrin explained.

The hospital experience affects parents as their children are isolated to protect cancer patients and others at higher risk of becoming infected, he said.

While most children who get the coronavirus will be “okay,” Ferrin asked Utahns to take the disease seriously to help health workers.

Pavia urged everyone who spends time with children, including parents, teachers and relatives, to get vaccinated.

“Another thing we know works that is masking in schools … and we take it very personally when people tell us it doesn’t work or when people tell us that masks are a personal choice,” he said, comparing- it with the management of a light stop.

He urged residents to help hospitals protect their ability to care for children with cancer or to be injured in car accidents.

Healthcare workers administered 19,255 vaccines since the previous day’s report, bringing the total number of vaccinations administered in Utah to 3,315,722, according to the Utah Department of Health.

In the last 28 days, unvaccinated residents have had a 4.7-fold higher risk of dying from COVID-19, a 6.2-fold higher risk of being hospitalized from COVID-19, and a 5-fold risk. 4 times greater than positive for COVID-19 than vaccinated individuals. As of February 1, people who are not vaccinated have a 5.3-fold higher risk of dying from COVID-19, a 5.2-fold higher risk of being hospitalized due to COVID-19, and a 4.5 times higher risk of testing positive for COVID-19 than vaccinated individuals. .

The latest deaths reported on Thursday:

• A 65- to 84-year-old Salt Lake County woman who was hospitalized when she died.
• A Utah County man, ages 25 to 44, was admitted to the hospital.
• Two men from Washington County, aged 65 to 84, were admitted to hospital.
• A woman from Davis County, aged 65 to 84, hospitalized.
• A Weber County man, aged 65 to 84, was admitted to hospital.
• A Weber County woman, ages 25 to 44, hospitalized.
• A Washington County woman, aged 65 to 84, hospitalized.
• A woman from Duchesne County, aged 45 to 64, hospitalized.
• A Salt Lake County woman, ages 45 to 64, with unknown hospitalization or long-term care.