Summit COVID-19 hospitalizations climb to another record; pediatric patient count spikes

Amanda Garrett, Akron Beacon Journal
·2 min read
Medical staff in the intensive care unit at Cleveland Clinic Akron General review a COVID-19 patient case.
Medical staff in the intensive care unit at Cleveland Clinic Akron General review a COVID-19 patient case.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Summit County broke the all-time record Thursday for the second day in a row.

Hospitalizations rose at each of the four hospitals, totaling 358 —.30 more than Wednesday's COVID-19 inpatient count.

Statewide, hospitalizations jumped to a record for a second day in a row, rising from 5,356 on Wednesday to 5,468 on Thursday, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

Another milestone was set to be reached over the holiday weekend, with Ohio surpassing 2 million reported COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. The number stood at 1,995,497 on Thursday afternoon and had grown by an average of 11,166 cases per day in the preceding three weeks.

The rising cases are hitting children like never before.

Akron Children's Hospital Thursday broke its own record for the second day in a row with 31 kids hospitalized, seven more than on Wednesday, and more than twice as many as the week before.

Officials at Akron Children's Hospital, facing a record-number of kids hospitalized with COVID-19, are urging parents to vaccinate children who are old enough. To protect those too young for vaccines, hospital officials urged all the adults who surround those children to get vaccinated and boosted as the pandemic heads into its third year.
Officials at Akron Children's Hospital, facing a record-number of kids hospitalized with COVID-19, are urging parents to vaccinate children who are old enough. To protect those too young for vaccines, hospital officials urged all the adults who surround those children to get vaccinated and boosted as the pandemic heads into its third year.

The Food and Drug Administration is reportedly poised to authorize a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for kids ages 12-15.

Regulators also plan to allow adolescents and adults to get the third shots five months after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer’s vaccine instead of the current six months, The New York Times reported, citing sources it described as familiar with the agency's deliberations. The Times reported that the authorization is expected Monday.

Public health experts have been warning for weeks that a viral blizzard will sweep the country. That storm appears to be hitting Greater Akron now, just as schools prepare to resume classes following winter break.

Until this week, Summit County's highest number of hospitalizations happened more than a year ago when 318 people were hospitalized on Dec. 15, 2020. That was before life-saving vaccines were available. At the time, many hoped vaccines would end the pandemic some time in 2021.

Thursday's local hospitalization count was the final regular tally collected for 2021 because of the New Year's holiday.

Now, as we start out 2022, we're looking at the pandemic roaring back with too few people vaccinated and boosted. The booster shot, health officials say, is key to preventing serious illness with the latest highly-contagious variant of the virus, omicron.

To protect children too young to be vaccinated, Akron Children's Hospital officials have urged all adults surrounding those children to be vaccinated and boosted.

On Thursday, these were the number of patients hospitalized in Summit County, followed by Wednesday's counts in parentheses: Western Reserve 29 (27); Akron General 144 (129); Summa 154 (148); Akron Children's 31 (24).

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Blizzard of COVID-19 hits Summit County with record hospitalizations