Hospitals register increase in hospitalizations of children under 5 years old due to Covid

Hospitals have again recorded an increase in visits and hospitalizations of children due to Covid-19. The age group between zero and five years old became the one with the highest risk of hospitalization for the disease, with the exception of the population over 60 years old, according to an unprecedented analysis by Infogripe-Fiocruz, a project that monitors cases of Srags (severe acute respiratory syndromes) in the country.

The age group up to five years still cannot be immunized against the disease. In November, this group did not represent 5% of the weekly cases of Srag by Covid-19 in the country. From April onwards, he accounted for up to 15% of registrations.

Another analysis, by Info Tracker (a project by USP and Unesp), pointed out that hospitalizations of children due to Covid in four public children’s hospitals in Greater São Paulo (Cândido Fontoura, Menino Jesus, Darcy Vargas and Municipal Hospital for Children and Adolescents) ), rose 23% between June 1 and June 13 (from 60 to 69).

According to Wallace Casaca, coordinator of Info Tracker and professor at Unesp, in Brazil, since April, there has been an increase in cases of child hospitalizations due to Srag caused by Covid, especially in the age group below five years. Between April and May, there was an increase of 33% (from 461 to 612 hospitalizations). Country data for May and early June are still incomplete.

Hospital Pequeno Príncipe, the largest pediatric institution that serves the SUS in Brazil, observes an increase in confirmed cases and hospitalizations for Covid. Until Monday (13), there were, on average, 5.38 confirmed cases per day, against 4.2 cases in May, an increase of 26%.

Considering children up to five years old, the increase is even greater. There are 3.3 cases per day against 2.2 in May, an increase of 50%. The confirmation rate of Covid tests went from 12% in May to 20% in early June. Hospitalizations more than tripled between April and May, from 9 to 30. This Monday (13), there were 18 children hospitalized.

For Marcelo Gomes, coordinator of the Infogripe Bulletin, this increase in Covid cases in young children is largely the result of the abandonment of protective measures, such as the use of masks in closed places, by adults.

“With regard to them, care is all ours. As I facilitate the transmission of the virus, I make the path to children easier, who are unable to protect themselves on their own. They need our actions, which we be careful.”

Wallace Casaca, from Info Tracker, draws attention to the high number of hospitalizations for Covid also among babies from zero to 11 months. Between April and May, they jumped from 199 to 285.

In the last four weeks, Sabará Hospital Infantil saw the number of confirmed cases of Covid go from 21 to 129 in the emergency room. In the same period, hospitalizations increased from three to nine. This Monday (13), there were 13 children hospitalized.

“The percentage of positivity [para Covid] has been rising since late April. It was 1%, it went up in May and, last week, 21% of all Covid tests came back positive”, says Francisco Ivanildo Ribeiro, quality manager at Sabará.

According to him, most children do not require hospitalization. In general, only those with risk factors, such as chronic diseases, genetic and neurological alterations, go to the ICU.

For Ribeiro, despite the impact of Covid being much smaller on young children than in relation to other age groups, it is very important to include them in the vaccination. “They can function as reservoirs of the virus and transmit it. It is a group that, from a numerical point of view, is not negligible. We have 9% of the population under five years of age.”

In addition, the doctor draws attention to the low coverage that immunization against Covid is having in the following age group, between 5 and 11 years, for which the vaccine has already been released since the beginning of the year. Today, just over 30% of children in this age group have had both doses of the vaccine.

A systematic review showed that more than 25% of children and adolescents infected with the coronavirus can develop long-term Covid-19, that is, they continue to show one or more symptoms even after more than a month of infection. The study was conducted by universities in the United States, Mexico and Sweden.

At least eight countries already vaccinate children under five years of age against Covid using the Soberana 02 vaccines, from the Sinopharm laboratory, and Coronavac, which in Brazil is under analysis by Anvisa for application in children from three years of age.

In the United States, the FDA is studying the release of both the Pfizer (three doses) and Moderna (two doses) vaccines.