How COVID-19 in kids compares to the flu, other viruses in children - Yahoo News

COVID-19 isn’t the only viral disease children are catching this year.

At the peak of the 2014-15 season, the flu sent twice as many children to the hospital as COVID-19 did from October 2020 through February 2021, according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But unlike the flu, COVID-19 is around all year, and the appearance of the more transmissible delta variant has swept in or sickened more children this past year than the average flu season does, says Dr.

This summer, RSV sent more younger children to the hospital than COVID-19, according to doctors who spoke with USA TODAY.

Every year, 58,000 children under 5 are hospitalized with RSV, according to estimates from the CDC. In comparison, 64,000 children under 18 have been hospitalized with COVID-19 since Aug.

"Fortunately, overwhelmingly the kids do well,” Rauch says, referring to children infected with RSV.

Because of staffing shortages and the RSV surge coupled with COVID-19 infections, Tyungu says, children at times have had to wait two or three days for a hospital bed.

“Our children's hospitals were very full of severe RSV cases," Tyungu says. "With the steady trickle of kids needing to be hospitalized, our hospital became capped very quickly.”.

What’s clear, Shapiro says, is that adults should protect the vulnerable children not yet eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine and that those older children who are eligible should get the shot to protect themselves.

According to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, up to 3% of children infected with COVID-19 are believed to be long-haulers.

And a condition known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, has been reported in more than 5,000 cases of children with COVID-19, according to the CDC

Children ages 12 and up are eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and children 6 months and older are able to get a flu vaccine