Rise in adolescent Covid hospitalizations is reflection of new variants, Gottlieb says

[Klaralven]

Dr. Scott Gottlieb pointed on Friday to the highly transmissible Covid-19 variants as a potential cause behind an increase in adolescents being hospitalized with the virus in March and April.

“It’s concerning, the trends on hospitalizations” among teenagers, said Gottlieb, the former Food and Drug Administration chief during the Trump administration. “I think it’s a reflection of the new, more contagious variants.”

“We are seeing that these variants are more contagious across all age groups, so they’re affecting adults more, but they’re also affecting kids more, so you’re seeing more kids contract symptomatic Covid and more kids get hospitalized, as a consequence of that, particularly B. 117,” Gottlieb told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith.”

The B. 117 variant is currently the most prevalent strain in the U.S., with 20,915 reported cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the first three months of the year, CDC researchers found that nearly one-third of adolescents hospitalized with Covid required admission into an intensive care unit. Meanwhile, 5% needed invasive mechanical ventilation. To be sure, CDC data shows no teenagers in the U.S. died of Covid in the first quarter of 2021.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/04/rise-in-adolescent-covid-hospitalizations-is-reflection-of-new-variants-gottlieb-says.html

And this is before the Indian and Nepalese variants have arrived in a major way.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Could it also be a reflection that not many of them are vaccinated as yet?

[ananda]

3. I think it could in part, but I also think...

the prevalent strain is more contagious and virulent.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. I did also read that about 70% of those hospitalized or put on a ventilator

did have a co-morbidity, most typically obesity.

[mucifer]

4. and very social

[ananda]

2. Thanks for this info.

I sure hope the boosters are ready when the
new strains arrive.

[Crunchy Frog]

6. I'm glad I finished getting my kids shot today.

Two more weeks and they should be very safe.

[Mr.Bill]

7. I wonder if schools being opened

has anything to do with it. Should be easy enough to tell, since schools have opened earlier in some areas than others. Politically it would be suicide for a politician to close the schools back up, though.

[Dorian Gray]

8. Vaccinate your kids

if you can. But there was a little push back on this news today. Apparently the data was only available through April 26th in the report, despite data for the following month being available. And the numbers decreased in the last month, in conjunction with rising vaccination rates.

There are doctors and scientists who are frustrated because they think it's misinformation to spread the desire for vaccines, but are afraid that the contrived narrative will backfire and make the population less trusting of the CDC. (There is a tenuous bond now.)

[NickB79]

9. Would if I could

She's 11, and all vaccines cut off at 12. I'd get her vaccinated tomorrow if I could.

[Dorian Gray]

10. I'm in the same boat

Mine is 10. It's so frustrating because I'd march her in tomorrow if they'd let me. I want her vaccinated and done!

(Which is why I'm following this news really closely too. And why the dire narrative of increasing danger frustrates me. I think they are trying to get people to vaccinate, but when I don't have the option and the news is presented in this way, I find it VERY frustrating.)

Our 10 and 11 year old kids will be okay while we hold on.