– Now covid teenagers are coming. The course of the disease in the third wave of the epidemic is more severe than before – told PAP infectious diseases specialist and pediatrician Dr. Lidia Stopyra, head of the children’s covid ward at the Stefan Żeromski Hospital in Krakow.
- In covid children’s wards, most patients are teenagers, not the youngest children, says Dr. Lidia Stopyra
- The doctor explains that many of them have other diseases. They are often obese adolescents, which contributes to a worse course of the infection
- According to the expert, children should be included in the COVID-19 vaccination program
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As she points out, the situation of children at the beginning of the epidemic was completely different than it is now. First of all, there were fewer patients and the disease was milder.
In the third wave, a month ago, when kindergartens and nurseries were closed, and three weeks ago, most of the pediatric patients were the smallest children – several weeks old and several months old. After nurseries and kindergartens were closed, the number of patients in this age group gradually began to decline. – Now the situation has changed and most of our patients are teenagers. Only one little patient is from the “nursery focus” Said Dr. Stopyra.
She also added that as a result of the restrictions, the total number of patients at this point was lower than two or three weeks ago. – Enough beds. There is no overflow, she explained.
Young patients – as well as adults – are mainly infected with the British variant. It causes a more severe course in children. – A teenager passes the British variant just like an adult – she noticed.
Almost all patients of the children’s covid ward at the Żeromski hospital have pneumonia, and many suffer from comorbidities. Obesity is one of the reasons why COVID-19 is more severe.
Dr. Stopyra estimates that the work in the ward is now running more efficiently than a year ago. – We have more severe cases, but we also have more experience – he emphasizes. It also indicates, inter alia, for easier diagnostics – now quick antigen tests are performed in the hospital, a year ago the swabs were transported to Warsaw or Kielce. Today, the definition of a convalescent is also different – a year ago two negative results were needed to be able to consider someone healthy.
According to the doctor, after the schools are opened, it will be necessary to take into account that children will become ill again. You also need to be ready for new variants of the coronavirus.
– It’s not about being afraid, it’s about thinking strategically. It is not new in medicine that the virus mutates. This is the case with the flu – every year new vaccines are made that are adapted to new mutations. In the case of COVID-19, there must also be readiness to work on vaccines against new strains of the virus, said Dr. Stopyra.
In her opinion, children should also be vaccinated – if subsequent tests confirm the safety of these preparations for the youngest. Children are often mildly affected by the coronavirus, but have a large share in the transmission of the infection, she pointed out.
Dr. Stopyra noted that in order to return to normal functioning, it is necessary to achieve population immunity – vaccinating the majority of the population.
– In order to be able to lift the restrictions and remove the masks, we need 70-90 percent. people immune to infection – i.e. vaccinated or convalescent – said and assessed: – If many adults are still not planned to be vaccinated, we will not be able to achieve population immunity without vaccinating children.
Author: Beata Kołodziej / PAP
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