Cases of COVID-19, hospitalizations rising swiftly among Georgia children

ATLANTA — Cases of COVID-19 are rising swiftly among Georgia children amid the spread of the highly-contagious omicron variant.

During the week before Christmas, cases rose 63% among children ages 0 to 4 and 120% among children ages 5 to 17, according to state health data.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Across the country, child COVID-19 cases increased by 50% in just one week for the week ending Dec. 23.

In Georgia, an average of more than 1,200 children a day are currently testing positive for the virus. More than half of those children are between the ages of 10 and 17.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Damaging wind gusts, hail and brief, isolated tornadoes possible Wednesday, Thursday
• Man killed, nearly 90 shell casings found after shooting at DeKalb apartment complex
• Gov. Kemp to deploy National Guard troops to hospitals, testing sites amid omicron surge

Hospitalizations among children are also on a swift incline. During the last week in November, 18 children were hospitalized with COVID-19.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta said that as of Dec. 28, there are 77 children in their hospitals with the virus, up from 22 children the week of Dec. 21, which represents a 250% increase. Hospital officials said most of the children hospitalized have pre-existing conditions.

During the peak of the delta variant in August, CHOA reported 69 children hospitalized with the virus.

Channel 2′s Michael Seiden was atCHOA Wednesday, where he talked to the hospital’s chief medical officer, Dr. James Fortenberry, who said hospitalizations have more than tripled.

“Today we’ve hit numbers that are higher than we had during the delta surge back in the summertime,” Fortenberry said. “In our children who are hospitalized with COVID-19, over 90% of them are not vaccinated.”

Fortenberry said that despite the fact most children who are hospitalized have pre-existing conditions, parents should not let their guards down. Over the last several months, doctors have treated numerous children who are still dealing with health issues months after contracting COVID-19.

“We have seen perfectly healthy children without underlying conditions who have developed these symptoms of MIS-C or long haul COVID syndrome,” Fortenberry said.

Fortenberry said there is some good news when it comes to the omicron variant: Doctors at CHOA do not think it is causing a greater severity of illness compared to the delta variant.

He said the best tool we have against the virus are vaccines, which are approved for children ages five and older.

“We know vaccination is a key part in really taking on the COVID-19 pandemic,” Fortenberry said.

It is unclear when the omicron surge of the virus will hit its peak. Tuesday saw the highest single-day number of new cases in Georgia since the start of the pandemic.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

At least 24 Georgia children ages 0 to 14 have died since the start of the pandemic. According to state health data, 0% of children who have been vaccinated have died of the virus.

©2021 Cox Media Group