COVID-19 cases spiking in school-aged children, particularly in lower-vaccination areas: B.C. health officials
CTV
B.C. has recorded a dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases among school-aged children, particularly in areas of the province with lower vaccination rates.
B.C. has recorded a dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases among school-aged children, particularly in areas of the province with lower vaccination rates.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry highlighted the spike in infections during a modelling presentation Tuesday, revealing there were 1,086 cases involving people under the age of 18 in the week ending on Sept. 23.
Of those cases, 658, or about 61 per cent, involved children between the ages of five and 11. There were 261 cases involving youths between the ages of 12 and 17, and 167 involving children under the age of five.
"We have seen an increase in numbers of children in each of those age groups who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the last week compared to what we have seen over the course of the pandemic," Henry said.
But officials stressed that child hospitalizations have remained low, with just four people under the age of 18 being hospitalized over that same period. Only one of them, who was under the age of five, was admitted to critical care.
There were no deaths in any of those age groups, though Henry noted that one infant and one toddler died from COVID-19 last year.
"We've not seen any deaths in school-aged children, and we hope that will continue," she added.
