Hospitalizations of Kids Under Five Increase as Omicron Rages

They’re still low overall, but much higher than for older vaccinated kids.

A child receives a Covid-19 vaccination in France. AP Images)

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

A record number of children are being hospitalized as the Omicron variant of Covid rages, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said on Friday. 

“While children still have the lowest rate of hospitalization of any group, pediatric hospitalizations are at the highest rate compared to any prior point in the pandemic,” Walensky said, previewing CDC data. “Sadly, we are seeing the rates of hospitalization increasing for children 0 to 4, children who are not yet currently eligible for COVID-19 vaccination.” 

The rate of hospitalizations for children under 5 is 4.3 cases per 100,000 cases, four times as high for kids between 5 and 17 years old. Prior to mid-December the hospitalization rate had been 2.5 cases per 100,000. 

Currently, 5-17-year-olds are eligible to receive the vaccine, but children under 5 are not. According to Walensky, CDC data shows that children 5 and older who are unvaccinated are being hospitalized at higher rates than those that are vaccinated. 

Though evidence suggests that the Omicron variant may cause milder illness compared to previous strains, its rapid transmissibility has led to high numbers of hospitalizations overall. Hospitalizations are up in 46 states, for an average increase of 40 percent from last week. On average, unvaccinated individuals are 17 times as likely to be hospitalized as those that are. 

According to an analysis by the New York Times, the United States is currently had around 600,000 new cases a day for the past week.

There is cause for some hope, though. In South Africa, one of the first countries that Omicron first started surging in, Covid cases appear to be precipitously dropping and also seem to be leveling off in the UK, suggesting that the United States may eventually see similar trends with its own Omicron outbreak. 

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate