Status: 11.12.2021 10:54 a.m.
How dangerous is the omicron variant of the coronavirus for children? Intensive care physicians are watching the spread with concern, but at the same time warn against scare tactics. There is still not enough data.
There is a lot of talk these days about the omicron variant of the coronavirus. In particular, the danger to children is a cause of concern for many – including intensive care physicians. The General Secretary of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), Florian Hoffmann, shares these concerns, but at the same time warns against scare tactics.
“In every wave so far, we have raised concerns among parents by making premature statements about the potential danger of the newly emerged variant, which then did not come true and did not lead to a pandemic among the children,” Hoffmann told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
In mid-January, Omikron will probably be the predominant variant in Germany, and by then there will be enough data to know how dangerous Omikron will be for children.
Hoffmann: The number of people infected will increase dramatically
So far it is known that the variant is more contagious, emphasized Hoffmann. “The number of infected people, and thus also children, will increase dramatically.” However, it is not yet clear whether Omikron also leads to more severe disease courses.
“Even if Omikron makes you less sick, it can still happen that in the end, in absolute numbers, more children have to go to hospital than now, just because of the high number of infected people,” said Hoffmann, the senior physician at the interdisciplinary children’s intensive care unit at Dr. von Hauner’s Children’s Hospital of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich.
Currently 23 infected children in clinics
“In the past few weeks, the number of children and adolescents requiring intensive care with corona infection in Germany has risen from nine to 29 temporarily,” said Hoffmann. “We observed that with great concern.” It could be due to the generally high incidences among children. Due to more corona infections in the age group, there are also more cases in the clinics. “The number has now fallen back to 23 patients, eight of whom are ventilated,” said Hoffmann.
What you shouldn’t forget: “Not every corona-positive child in the intensive care registry is in the clinic because of a Covid disease,” emphasized the DIVI General Secretary. Corona-positive children have already been with him, but a serious traffic accident or severe scalding would have led to intensive admission. These children would then also be recorded as Covid cases in the intensive register.
Drosten: “Have children vaccinated”
The chief virologist of the Berlin Charité, Christian Drosten, had on Thursday in the daily topics Referring to the development in South Africa: “What you can see there is that especially the youngest children under five years of age have to go to the hospital more and more, with severe courses.” The information from there made him increasingly concerned, so Drosten. He could “really only advise to have the children vaccinated”.