CDC’s Dr. Rochelle Walensky: more young children are hospitalized with COVID than ever before

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced a startling spike in the number of young children hospitalized with COVID-19 and took another stab at defending new shortened guidelines for returning to work after positive tests.

In a CDC briefing Friday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky said children under 5 are hospitalized with COVID at a rate of 4.3 per 100,000 people, the highest number ever recorded.

“This is the highest number of pediatric cases we’ve seen throughout the pandemic,” Walensky said.

The top pandemic expert said there is no doubt that the spike among children under 5, who are not eligible to be vaccinated, is driven by the super-contagious omicron variant, which is now responsible for the vast majority of cases in the U.S.

But it is not yet known whether omicron has some specific feature that causes more serious illness in kids or if far more young children are being exposed to it because it is more contagious than previous strains.

“It may very well be that there are just more cases out there and our children are more vulnerable with more cases around them,” Walensky said.

The rate of hospitalization for children older than 5, who have been eligible to receive vaccines for months now, is four times lower than those under 5, although it remains lower than among adults.

That suggests that the spike in cases in the younger kids is due to their not enjoying the protection of the vaccine. The majority of cases among those older than 5 are among those who are unvaccinated, bolstering that theory, Walensky said.

Scientists say trials are underway on vaccines for children under 5 but they likely won’t be approved until Spring at the earliest.

Meanwhile, the CDC director acknowledged the barrage of criticism aimed at the agency for its recommendation that it’s safe to go back to work five days after testing positive, instead of the previously recommended 10 days, for those experiencing symptoms.

“We’re in an unprecedented situation with the speed of omicron cases rising,” Walensky said. “We were seeing, just before the holidays, shortages of health care workers as a harbinger of things in many areas.”

The head of the agency explained that changing guidance is a “new normal” and the CDC will provide the most effective up-to-date medical advice to Americans as the omicron variant continues to spread faster than any previous strain of the deadly virus.