(Photo : (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images))
Two girls carry stuffed animal toys wearing face masks as they leave a Covid-19 screening at a testing and vaccination site at public school in Los Angeles, California, January 5, 2022. - The United States reported more than one million new Covid-19 cases on January 4 after the long New Year's weekend, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, as the Omicron variant spread at a blistering pace. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
Doctors have observed unusual symptoms in children who have contracted the Omicron variant of the COVID-19, the culprit of the current surge of cases in the United States.
Dr. Latania Logan, Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at RUSH University Center, has observed "seal-like barking coughs" among her children patients, an indication of an inflamed upper respiratory tract.
The pediatrician explains that children below 5 years old are susceptible to this condition for having narrow airways, where omicron variant replicates and germs can easily dwell. This can cause other respiratory infections like bronchiolitis that causes difficulty in breathing, per NBC Chicago.
"The airways may be a little bit more 'floppy' than the adult airway or they may have a little bit of a lesser ability to remove the secretions that an adult can do by coughing," said Dr. Logan.
She also observed mild-to-moderate cases in toddlers and infants, which they effectively address using steroid therapy. Most hospital confinements only average two days or even less.
Meanwhile, Dr. Alin Abraham of Northwestern Medicine sees different complications in children who got infected by the Omicron variant. He observes further conditions such as dehydration that resulted from mucus buildup, which affects their breathing.
Dr. Abraham observes that such a problem is noticeable among children under five years old because the age group remains unvaccinated.
Read Also: Omicron Vs. Delta Variant: Which Could Harm Our Health Worse?
Number of Hospitalized Children Increases
Medical experts say that the omicron variant is milder in comparison to other variants of COVID-19; however, it is more contagious. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Tuesday around 718,000 COVID cases and blames Omicron in more than 90% of the cases in the US.
Even the young and energetic youth are not spared from the rampage of the COVID-19 virus. Based on a report of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association, children and teen cases nearly doubled before the end of 2021, reaching almost 326,000.
The current surge in COVID cases, fueled by omicron, has also increased the number of children being hospitalized. In the week of Dec. 27, 2021, to Jan. 2, 2022, an average of 672 individuals 17 years old and below were admitted daily to medical facilities due to COVID-19 infections. The number is more than double the reported figures from the previous week. But despite these, children still make up a small percentage of the patients being admitted to hospitals, according to Associated Press.
How We Can Protect The Kids from Omicron
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stressed the importance of vaccination in adults, as it is an important way to protect children who are too young to get COVID-19 vaccine shots.
He advised that surrounding children with vaccinated adults is among the effective methods to protect them from getting infected with the virus.
"The way you protect children who, because of their age, cannot get vaccinated yet is to surround the children -- be it friends, family, school teachers, personnel in the school -- surround the children with vaccinated people," he told CNN.
US health officials also emphasize the importance of wearing face masks to prevent transmissions.
Related Article: How Do I Figure Out If I Have Omicron, Delta, a Cold, or the Flu?
