25% Of Pediatric COVID Patients Are In ICU: IL Advocate Doctors

ACROSS ILLINOIS — Over the past month, half of the children admitted to Advocate Aurora hospitals with COVID-19 were under the age of 5 years old and not eligible for a vaccine. Meanwhile, the surge in pediatric patients heading to emergency rooms across the state has jumped significantly in recent weeks, and 25 percent of pediatric COVID-19 patients at Advocate hospitals are requiring care in the intensive care unit, hospital officials said.

Top doctors with Advocate Aurora Health spoke Thursday about the effect the fast spread of the omicron variant is having on the state’s youth. Since mid-December, there's been a three-fold increase in pediatric patients at Advocate Children's Hospitals in Illinois, with, on average, 25 to 34 new pediatric patients each day.

“It’s the highest we’ve seen since the beginning of the pandemic,” Frank Belmonte, chief medical officer of Advocate Children’s Hospitals, said during a press conference Thursday. Advocate Children's Hospitals has two campuses: one connected to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge and the other attached to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

At the same time, Advocate doctors discussed ways parents can keep their kids connected to others amid a surge in serious mental health problems spurred, in part, by isolation that's occurred during the pandemic and due to most schools relying on remote learning last year. They also urged a return to “mitigation efforts,” including mask-wearing and hand-washing.

Vaccination, for those who can, was also encouraged. While breakthrough cases have been more prevalent this time around, 94 percent of children hospitalized are unvaccinated, Belmonte said.

“And I would say almost 100 percent of our patients in the ICU are unvaccinated,” he added. “We know this specific variant is much more transmissible than the two other previous variants, which is why we are seeing massive spread … We also know that it seems to affect children under the age of 5 in a little bit of a different way."

Children are coming to Advocate emergency rooms with “more upper airway issues,” and symptoms similar to croup and bronchiolitis, Belmonte said. Lower respiratory illnesses similar to pneumonia are also cropping up, said Nekaiya Jacobs, a pediatric critical care physician with Advocate Children’s Hospital in Park Ridge.

“There are some patients who are severely ill and are requiring a ventilator to help support their heart and lungs and, in our most severe cases, heart and lung bypass,” Jacobs said.

Here is a closer look at recent statistics regarding pediatric cases in Illinois:

• Pediatric emergency room visits have historically accounted for less than 3 percent of total visits throughout the pandemic. That number began to climb in early December.

• Between Dec. 24 and 26, 15 percent of ER visits were children 17 years old and younger. On Dec. 30, 16 percent of ER visits were children 4 years old and younger.

• There’s been a significant jump in the number of children under the age of 5 years old testing positive for COVID-19 since early December, according to public health data. On Dec. 1, the seven-day rolling average of cases reported for children 4 years old and younger hit 193. As of Tuesday, that number has jumped by more than 1,000, with 1,229 reported cases of COVID-19 for that age group.

• ER visits do appear to have declined slightly since the New Year. On Wednesday, 10 percent of ER visits were children under the age of 18, according to Illinois Department of Public Health data.

Other alarming trends include infants requiring hospitalization and issues hospitals are seeing with children and teens with “comorbid” psychiatric issues also testing positive for COVID-19 and not being able to receive the care they need in a group setting.

A lot of those mental health problems, including some with suicidal idealization and severe anxiety and depression, have been spurred, in part, by isolation, said Laura Yahr Nelson, a pediatric psychiatrist for Aurora Children’s Health.

“My first message to parents is just to check in with your kids and ask questions, big and small. Really try to connect with and engage with your kids. Even if you ask and they don’t give you the answer you’d like, they’ve heard you try,” Yahr Nelson said. “Really try to play games, ask to watch their favorite TikTok, go for a walk, it can be really simple. Ask what they are feeling and validate their emotions. Even if you’re wrong, they can correct you.”

And while social distancing and isolation was pushed during the early stages of the pandemic, that is not being encouraged now. Even with the rapid spread of the omicron variant.

“Try to foster connectedness outside the home. Kids really need relationships. They need relationships with their peers and with supportive adults,” Yahr Nelson said. “Build those in safe ways in your community. And if you’re not vaccinated, do so, so this can be done safely.”
Maintaining structure, as much as possible, is also important.

“We want educational intrusions to be as minimal as possible. Kids should maintain normal sleep, waking times, activities, schedules, even if they are not physically at school,” Yahr Nelson.

As of Wednesday, 66 percent of children under the age of 18 years old were fully vaccinated, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Doctors are hopeful a vaccine will be available for children under the age of 5 years old this spring.

This article originally appeared on the Libertyville Patch