Pediatric COVID hospitalizations reports thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A look at Florida pediatric hospitalization from CDC data, July 2020 through July 2021, shows:
1. a steep increase in the last month
2. a shift in March 2021 from hospitalizations of mostly children with pre-existing conditions to more and more otherwise healthy children.

Hospitalization numbers look worse for COVID-19. But those numbers are inflated as a result of the CDC's reporting rules. The CDC requires every child admitted to a hospital to be tested for the coronavirus.

Dr. Roshni Mathew, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, says experience at her hospital found that 45% of the time, a child who tested positive for the coronavirus was not actually sick with COVID-19. The findings have been published online in the journal Hospital Pediatrics.

In those cases, hospitalization was due to "a completely unrelated diagnosis, like appendicitis or femur fracture or something else," she says.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/25/997467734/childrens-risk-of-serious-illness-from-covid-19-is-as-low-as-it-is-for-the-flu

So, in fact, any child admitted to a hospital is tested for covid regardless of clinical symptoms. If the child is positive, they are then labeled as a covid-associated admission. #misinformation

Citation for that? What would make you think the CDC controlled individual hospital policy (public and private entities) to the point they could "require" this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A look at Florida pediatric hospitalization from CDC data, July 2020 through July 2021, shows:
1. a steep increase in the last month
2. a shift in March 2021 from hospitalizations of mostly children with pre-existing conditions to more and more otherwise healthy children.

Hospitalization numbers look worse for COVID-19. But those numbers are inflated as a result of the CDC's reporting rules. The CDC requires every child admitted to a hospital to be tested for the coronavirus.

Dr. Roshni Mathew, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, says experience at her hospital found that 45% of the time, a child who tested positive for the coronavirus was not actually sick with COVID-19. The findings have been published online in the journal Hospital Pediatrics.

In those cases, hospitalization was due to "a completely unrelated diagnosis, like appendicitis or femur fracture or something else," she says.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/25/997467734/childrens-risk-of-serious-illness-from-covid-19-is-as-low-as-it-is-for-the-flu

So, in fact, any child admitted to a hospital is tested for covid regardless of clinical symptoms. If the child is positive, they are then labeled as a covid-associated admission. #misinformation

Citation for that? What would make you think the CDC controlled individual hospital policy (public and private entities) to the point they could "require" this?

DP. I don't know that the CDC is requiring it, but the AAP link I posted talks about universal COVID testing at hospitals. Every admitted patient is getting a COVID test, that goes on the diagnosis submitted to insurance, and it is actually that number being used to estimate our COVID cases in most places (there are a few exceptions).
https://hosppeds.aappublications.org/content/hosppeds/early/2021/05/18/hpeds.2021-006084.full.pdf

News article here: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/05/study-number-of-kids-hospitalized-for-covid-is-overcounted.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A look at Florida pediatric hospitalization from CDC data, July 2020 through July 2021, shows:
1. a steep increase in the last month
2. a shift in March 2021 from hospitalizations of mostly children with pre-existing conditions to more and more otherwise healthy children.

Hospitalization numbers look worse for COVID-19. But those numbers are inflated as a result of the CDC's reporting rules. The CDC requires every child admitted to a hospital to be tested for the coronavirus.

Dr. Roshni Mathew, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, says experience at her hospital found that 45% of the time, a child who tested positive for the coronavirus was not actually sick with COVID-19. The findings have been published online in the journal Hospital Pediatrics.

In those cases, hospitalization was due to "a completely unrelated diagnosis, like appendicitis or femur fracture or something else," she says.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/25/997467734/childrens-risk-of-serious-illness-from-covid-19-is-as-low-as-it-is-for-the-flu

So, in fact, any child admitted to a hospital is tested for covid regardless of clinical symptoms. If the child is positive, they are then labeled as a covid-associated admission. #misinformation

Citation for that? What would make you think the CDC controlled individual hospital policy (public and private entities) to the point they could "require" this?

DP. I don't know that the CDC is requiring it, but the AAP link I posted talks about universal COVID testing at hospitals. Every admitted patient is getting a COVID test, that goes on the diagnosis submitted to insurance, and it is actually that number being used to estimate our COVID cases in most places (there are a few exceptions).
https://hosppeds.aappublications.org/content/hosppeds/early/2021/05/18/hpeds.2021-006084.full.pdf

News article here: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/05/study-number-of-kids-hospitalized-for-covid-is-overcounted.html

So is the contention that the pediatric increase in hospital use unrelated to the spike in general COVID cases?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very sad article! Makes me rethink full time in person school. We need to get creative to keep kids distanced. School districts should be upgrading filtration and providing medical grade masks too.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/08/04/pediatrician-covid-children-delta/?itid=hp_opinions

At least the doctor who wrote it alludes to her cognitive biases around thinking COVID causes severe illness in children. It does, for a small percentage, and that's tragic in those cases. Of course it is. But we really, really need to avoid relying on these kinds of anecdotes to drive policy.

These are not anecdotes.

an·ec·dote
/ˈanəkˌdōt/

noun
noun: anecdote; plural noun: anecdotes
a short amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person.
"told anecdotes about his job"

Similar:
story
tale
narrative
sketch
urban myth
urban legend
reminiscence
yarn
shaggy-dog story

-an account regarded as unreliable or hearsay.
"his wife's death has long been the subject of rumor and anecdote"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A look at Florida pediatric hospitalization from CDC data, July 2020 through July 2021, shows:
1. a steep increase in the last month
2. a shift in March 2021 from hospitalizations of mostly children with pre-existing conditions to more and more otherwise healthy children.

Hospitalization numbers look worse for COVID-19. But those numbers are inflated as a result of the CDC's reporting rules. The CDC requires every child admitted to a hospital to be tested for the coronavirus.

Dr. Roshni Mathew, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, says experience at her hospital found that 45% of the time, a child who tested positive for the coronavirus was not actually sick with COVID-19. The findings have been published online in the journal Hospital Pediatrics.

In those cases, hospitalization was due to "a completely unrelated diagnosis, like appendicitis or femur fracture or something else," she says.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/25/997467734/childrens-risk-of-serious-illness-from-covid-19-is-as-low-as-it-is-for-the-flu

So, in fact, any child admitted to a hospital is tested for covid regardless of clinical symptoms. If the child is positive, they are then labeled as a covid-associated admission. #misinformation

Citation for that? What would make you think the CDC controlled individual hospital policy (public and private entities) to the point they could "require" this?

DP. I don't know that the CDC is requiring it, but the AAP link I posted talks about universal COVID testing at hospitals. Every admitted patient is getting a COVID test, that goes on the diagnosis submitted to insurance, and it is actually that number being used to estimate our COVID cases in most places (there are a few exceptions).
https://hosppeds.aappublications.org/content/hosppeds/early/2021/05/18/hpeds.2021-006084.full.pdf

News article here: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/05/study-number-of-kids-hospitalized-for-covid-is-overcounted.html

So is the contention that the pediatric increase in hospital use unrelated to the spike in general COVID cases?

That is correct. It is in large part driven by RSV, which is on the rise because children's immune systems were not exposed to the virus for over 18 months, causing a surge in cases now that immune systems are not trained to fight it off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A look at Florida pediatric hospitalization from CDC data, July 2020 through July 2021, shows:
1. a steep increase in the last month
2. a shift in March 2021 from hospitalizations of mostly children with pre-existing conditions to more and more otherwise healthy children.

Hospitalization numbers look worse for COVID-19. But those numbers are inflated as a result of the CDC's reporting rules. The CDC requires every child admitted to a hospital to be tested for the coronavirus.

Dr. Roshni Mathew, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, says experience at her hospital found that 45% of the time, a child who tested positive for the coronavirus was not actually sick with COVID-19. The findings have been published online in the journal Hospital Pediatrics.

In those cases, hospitalization was due to "a completely unrelated diagnosis, like appendicitis or femur fracture or something else," she says.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/25/997467734/childrens-risk-of-serious-illness-from-covid-19-is-as-low-as-it-is-for-the-flu

So, in fact, any child admitted to a hospital is tested for covid regardless of clinical symptoms. If the child is positive, they are then labeled as a covid-associated admission. #misinformation

Citation for that? What would make you think the CDC controlled individual hospital policy (public and private entities) to the point they could "require" this?

DP. I don't know that the CDC is requiring it, but the AAP link I posted talks about universal COVID testing at hospitals. Every admitted patient is getting a COVID test, that goes on the diagnosis submitted to insurance, and it is actually that number being used to estimate our COVID cases in most places (there are a few exceptions).
https://hosppeds.aappublications.org/content/hosppeds/early/2021/05/18/hpeds.2021-006084.full.pdf

News article here: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/05/study-number-of-kids-hospitalized-for-covid-is-overcounted.html

So is the contention that the pediatric increase in hospital use unrelated to the spike in general COVID cases?

I posted the AAP study. My contention is not that it is entirely unrelated, but that it may be less related than the headlines suggest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A look at Florida pediatric hospitalization from CDC data, July 2020 through July 2021, shows:
1. a steep increase in the last month
2. a shift in March 2021 from hospitalizations of mostly children with pre-existing conditions to more and more otherwise healthy children.

Hospitalization numbers look worse for COVID-19. But those numbers are inflated as a result of the CDC's reporting rules. The CDC requires every child admitted to a hospital to be tested for the coronavirus.

Dr. Roshni Mathew, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, says experience at her hospital found that 45% of the time, a child who tested positive for the coronavirus was not actually sick with COVID-19. The findings have been published online in the journal Hospital Pediatrics.

In those cases, hospitalization was due to "a completely unrelated diagnosis, like appendicitis or femur fracture or something else," she says.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/25/997467734/childrens-risk-of-serious-illness-from-covid-19-is-as-low-as-it-is-for-the-flu

So, in fact, any child admitted to a hospital is tested for covid regardless of clinical symptoms. If the child is positive, they are then labeled as a covid-associated admission. #misinformation

Citation for that? What would make you think the CDC controlled individual hospital policy (public and private entities) to the point they could "require" this?

DP. I don't know that the CDC is requiring it, but the AAP link I posted talks about universal COVID testing at hospitals. Every admitted patient is getting a COVID test, that goes on the diagnosis submitted to insurance, and it is actually that number being used to estimate our COVID cases in most places (there are a few exceptions).
https://hosppeds.aappublications.org/content/hosppeds/early/2021/05/18/hpeds.2021-006084.full.pdf

News article here: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/05/study-number-of-kids-hospitalized-for-covid-is-overcounted.html

So is the contention that the pediatric increase in hospital use unrelated to the spike in general COVID cases?

That is correct. It is in large part driven by RSV, which is on the rise because children's immune systems were not exposed to the virus for over 18 months, causing a surge in cases now that immune systems are not trained to fight it off.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the above Tweet. Stupid Covid deniers spreading RSV rumors again. Anyone with half a brain can take a few seconds to figure out that OF COURSE hospitals are testing for both and acting accordingly.

[Anonymous]

The point that PP's were making wasn't about covid being mistaken for RSV for vice versa. It's that RSV is happening at the same time as covid pediatric hospitalizations so RSV is taking up some pediatric beds, so there are fewer that could go to covid patients, so that narrative that the "pediatric beds are full!" is partially driven by RSV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The point that PP's were making wasn't about covid being mistaken for RSV for vice versa. It's that RSV is happening at the same time as covid pediatric hospitalizations so RSV is taking up some pediatric beds, so there are fewer that could go to covid patients, so that narrative that the "pediatric beds are full!" is partially driven by RSV

This ^^

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A look at Florida pediatric hospitalization from CDC data, July 2020 through July 2021, shows:
1. a steep increase in the last month
2. a shift in March 2021 from hospitalizations of mostly children with pre-existing conditions to more and more otherwise healthy children.

Hospitalization numbers look worse for COVID-19. But those numbers are inflated as a result of the CDC's reporting rules. The CDC requires every child admitted to a hospital to be tested for the coronavirus.

Dr. Roshni Mathew, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, says experience at her hospital found that 45% of the time, a child who tested positive for the coronavirus was not actually sick with COVID-19. The findings have been published online in the journal Hospital Pediatrics.

In those cases, hospitalization was due to "a completely unrelated diagnosis, like appendicitis or femur fracture or something else," she says.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/25/997467734/childrens-risk-of-serious-illness-from-covid-19-is-as-low-as-it-is-for-the-flu

So, in fact, any child admitted to a hospital is tested for covid regardless of clinical symptoms. If the child is positive, they are then labeled as a covid-associated admission. #misinformation

Citation for that? What would make you think the CDC controlled individual hospital policy (public and private entities) to the point they could "require" this?

DP. I don't know that the CDC is requiring it, but the AAP link I posted talks about universal COVID testing at hospitals. Every admitted patient is getting a COVID test, that goes on the diagnosis submitted to insurance, and it is actually that number being used to estimate our COVID cases in most places (there are a few exceptions).
https://hosppeds.aappublications.org/content/hosppeds/early/2021/05/18/hpeds.2021-006084.full.pdf

News article here: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/05/study-number-of-kids-hospitalized-for-covid-is-overcounted.html

No, I get that, and I don't think any hospital is admitting anyone without COVID testing.

I am just wanting to be clear that the CDC isn't driving this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The point that PP's were making wasn't about covid being mistaken for RSV for vice versa. It's that RSV is happening at the same time as covid pediatric hospitalizations so RSV is taking up some pediatric beds, so there are fewer that could go to covid patients, so that narrative that the "pediatric beds are full!" is partially driven by RSV

This ^^

Exactly. It’s not that people think the covid is rsv or vice versa, it’s that it’s both. So, news stories that read “covid on the rise, pediatric icu full” aren’t giving the whole story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very sad article! Makes me rethink full time in person school. We need to get creative to keep kids distanced. School districts should be upgrading filtration and providing medical grade masks too.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/08/04/pediatrician-covid-children-delta/?itid=hp_opinions

At least the doctor who wrote it alludes to her cognitive biases around thinking COVID causes severe illness in children. It does, for a small percentage, and that's tragic in those cases. Of course it is. But we really, really need to avoid relying on these kinds of anecdotes to drive policy.

These are not anecdotes.

an·ec·dote
/ˈanəkˌdōt/

noun
noun: anecdote; plural noun: anecdotes
a short amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person.
"told anecdotes about his job"

Similar:
story
tale
narrative
sketch
urban myth
urban legend
reminiscence
yarn
shaggy-dog story

-an account regarded as unreliable or hearsay.
"his wife's death has long been the subject of rumor and anecdote"

Sure. Then they're narratives about personal observations, utterly lacking in context and meant to... what? Scare people? Inform policy? Raise awareness? All of the above?

The larger point is that we don't have the data we need to know accurate information about true risks for COVID (especially in the context of the delta variant) and kids, in particular. The stories told by some pediatricians in some hospitals may or may not be useful in generating that accurate information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The point that PP's were making wasn't about covid being mistaken for RSV for vice versa. It's that RSV is happening at the same time as covid pediatric hospitalizations so RSV is taking up some pediatric beds, so there are fewer that could go to covid patients, so that narrative that the "pediatric beds are full!" is partially driven by RSV

This ^^

Exactly. It’s not that people think the covid is rsv or vice versa, it’s that it’s both. So, news stories that read “covid on the rise, pediatric icu full” aren’t giving the whole story.

Distinction without a difference. But for the explosion in Covid hospitalizations, there may have been a bed for your child when they got RSV or appendicitis. Due to something entirely preventable, your kid may die of something they could have easily survived with proper care. This is what people have been talking about when they refer to hospital systems getting overwhelmed. It means that Covid is sucking up so many resources there’s nothing left for everything else, including RSV. And with RSV, what’s different here is the timing. I’ve heard “anectdata” that kids are contracting both. There’s nothing to say you can only get one bug at a time.

[Anonymous]

‘This is real’: Fear and hope in an Arkansas pediatric ICU
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/08/13/children-hospitalizations-covid-delta/

Today, as delta infections mount, some front line doctors suggest children are being hospitalized at higher rates and with more serious illnesses because of the new variant — a still-unproven hypothesis. What is indisputable is that in a swath of low-vaccination states stretching from Florida, South Carolina and Texas, up to Indiana and Missouri, the first large wave of pediatric cases is hitting hard — overwhelming hospitals, dominating political debates over mask and vaccine mandates and throwing school reopening plans into disarray.