GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Michigan is currently the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tuesday's daily case total of 8,867 is the highest it's been since last November. And, just halfway through the week, Michigan is recording more than 17,500 new Coronavirus cases.
Hospitals across the state are also seeing a spike in pediatric COVID-19 cases.
"I think it is important to note that in the United States, as we look at COVID-19 infections, the actual increase in the pediatric population has gone up substantially, over 200% increase, in new COVID-19 cases in the pediatric audience," says Dr. Rosemary Olivero, pediatric infectious diseases physician, for Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. "There have been various reports from different health care systems in West Michigan. Fortunately, Helen DeVos Children's Hospital has not seen a very large increase in pediatric patients hospitalized with acute respiratory COVID."
Nationally, COVID-19 infections in children have spiked more than 200% in recent weeks. Olivero says DeVos Children's Hospital is currently treating pediatric, COVID-positive, patients that range in age from newborn up to 17-years-old.
"We also have several patients who are currently being assessed for possible COVID. The other patients are being monitored for possible symptoms due to COVID, but haven't really developed what we would call acute respiratory COVID, which would be when you have the virus detected and you also have a significant respiratory infection. So, we have none of those patients right now," she said.
"The vast majority of our patients who are found to be COVID-positive are actually here for other reasons. Because we screen our admissions for COVID-19, we're seeing it in children that come in for routine surgical procedures, or other surgeries like an appendicitis, or children who come in for psychiatric conditions. Those are the vast majority of our children who are coming in, who are COVID-positive. It's not actually that they're coming in because of medical illness due to acute respiratory COVID."
That said, Olivero says despite early myths that that COVID was not easily transmissible in children, we're seeing that is not the case.
"I think that's partially due to the novel variant which can be more transmissible. I think it has a lot to do with people letting down their guard in terms of their mitigation strategies to prevent the spread of COVID 19, and I think also we're seeing a younger demographic represented because the adult populations actually have better access to vaccines, at this point in time," she said.
Olivero says, in most cases, COVID is more dangerous for children with chronic medical conditions than a young, healthy child. However, Michigan is also starting to see a rise in Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome, also known as MIS-C, which presents about 2 to 8 weeks after contracted COVID, and can be much more harmful for all children.
"That was a really important thing for us to learn about the Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome. And, although it affects such a small portion of the population, that is, by far and away, going to be most of the cases. In a young healthy child, MIS-C is going to be the more life threatening condition for them to have, rather than acute respiratory COVID," she said. "So, with acute respiratory COVID, in general, we think it is going to affect our children with chronic medical conditions, more than our healthy children. But our young, healthy children seem to be the ones who get MIS-C."
Early this week, 51 new school-related COVID-19 outbreaks were reported in Michigan, nine cases coming from West Michigan. Recent data show teens and older kids can spread the virus just as easily as adults. However, Olivero says the spread of COVID inside schools has been relatively rare when proper mitigation strategies are in place.
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