Hospitalizations Associated with COVID-19 Among Children and Adolescents — COVID-NET, 14 States, March 1, 2020–August 14, 2021

Details

• Personal Author:
  Delahoy, Miranda J. ; Ujamaa, Dawud ; Whitaker, Michael ; O’Halloran, Alissa ; Anglin, Onika ; Burns, Erin ; Cummings, Charisse ; Holstein, Rachel ; Kambhampati, Anita K. ; Milucky, Jennifer ; Patel, Kadam ; Pham, Huong ; Taylor, Christopher A. ; Chai, Shua J. ; Reingold, Arthur ; Alden, Nisha B. ; Kawasaki, Breanna ; Meek, James ; Yousey-Hindes, Kimberly ; Anderson, Evan J. ; Openo, Kyle P. ; Teno, Kenzie ; Weigel, Andy ; Kim, Sue ; Leegwater, Lauren ; Bye, Erica ; Como-Sabetti, Kathryn ; Ropp, Susan ; Rudin, Dominic ; Muse, Alison ; Spina, Nancy ; Bennett, Nancy M. ; Popham, Kevin ; Billing, Laurie M. ; Shiltz, Eli ; Sutton, Melissa ; Thomas, Ann ; Schaffner, William ; Talbot, H. Keipp ; Crossland, Melanie T. ; McCaffrey, Keegan ; Hall, Aron J. ; Fry, Alicia M. ; McMorrow, Meredith ; Reed, Carrie ; Garg, Shikha ; Havers, Fiona P.
• Corporate Authors:
  COVID-NET Surveillance Team. ; CDC COVID-19 Response Team ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)Epidemic Intelligence Service. ; General Dynamics Information Technology, Atlanta, Georgia ; California Emerging Infections Program. ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)Career Epidemiology Field Officer Program. ; University of California, Berkeley. School of Public Health. ; Colorado. Department of Public Health and Environment. ; Yale University. School of Public Health. Connecticut Emerging Infections Program. ; Emory University School of Medicine. ; Georgia Emerging Infections Program. ; Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Atlanta, Ga.). ; Iowa. Department of Health. ; Michigan. Department of Health and Human Services. ; Minnesota. Department of Health. ; New Mexico Department of Health. ; New Mexico Emerging Infections Program, Albuquerque, New Mexico. ; New York (State). Department of Health. ; University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. ; University of Rochester Medical Center. Rochester Emerging Infections Program. ; Ohio. Department of Health. ; Oregon Health Authority. Public Health Division. ; Vanderbilt University Medical Center. ; Salt Lake County (Utah). Health Department. ; Utah. Department of Health.
• Description:
  What is already known about this topic? COVID-19 can cause severe illness in children and adolescents.
  
  What is added by this report? Weekly COVID-19–associated hospitalization rates among children and adolescents rose nearly five-fold during late June–mid-August 2021, coinciding with increased circulation of the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variants. The proportions of hospitalized children and adolescents with severe disease were similar before and during the period of Delta predominance. Hospitalization rates were 10 times higher among unvaccinated than among fully vaccinated adolescents.
  
  What are the implications for public health practice? Preventive measures to reduce Transmission and severe outcomes in children and adolescents are critical, including vaccination, universal masking in schools, and masking by persons aged ≥2 years in other indoor public spaces and child care centers.
  
  Although COVID-19–associated hospitalizations and deaths have occurred more frequently in adults,† COVID-19 can also lead to severe outcomes in children and adolescents (1,2). Schools are opening for in-person learning, and many prekindergarten children are returning to early care and education programs during a time when the number of COVID-19 cases caused by the highly transmissible B.1.617.2 (Delta) Variants of SARS-CoV-2, the Virus that causes COVID-19, is increasing.§ Therefore, it is important to monitor indicators of severe COVID-19 among children and adolescents. This Analysis uses CoronaVirus Disease 2019–Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET)¶ data to describe COVID-19–associated hospitalizations among U.S. children and adolescents aged 0–17 years. During March 1, 2020–August 14, 2021, the cumulative incidence of COVID-19–associated hospitalizations was 49.7 per 100,000 children and adolescents. The weekly COVID-19–associated hospitalization rate per 100,000 children and adolescents during the week ending August 14, 2021 (1.4) was nearly five times the rate during the week ending June 26, 2021 (0.3); among children aged 0–4 years, the weekly hospitalization rate during the week ending August 14, 2021, was nearly 10 times that during the week ending June 26, 2021.** During June 20–July 31, 2021, the hospitalization rate among unvaccinated adolescents (aged 12–17 years) was 10.1 times higher than that among fully vaccinated adolescents. Among all hospitalized children and adolescents with COVID-19, the proportions with indicators of severe disease (such as intensive care unit [ICU] admission) after the Delta Variants became predominant (June 20–July 31, 2021) were similar to those earlier in the pandemic (March 1, 2020–June 19, 2021). Implementation of preventive measures to reduce Transmission and severe outcomes in children is critical, including vaccination of eligible persons, universal mask wearing in schools, recommended mask wearing by persons aged ≥2 years in other indoor public spaces and child care centers,†† and quarantining as recommended after exposure to persons with COVID-19.
  
  Suggested citation for this article: Delahoy MJ, Ujamaa D, Whitaker M, et al. Hospitalizations Associated with COVID-19 Among Children and Adolescents — COVID-NET, 14 States, March 1, 2020–August 14, 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 3 September 2021.
  
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  mm7036e2-H.pdf
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent BetacoronaVirus Child Child, Preschool Clinical Laboratory Services CoronaVirus Infections COVID-19 Female Hospitalization Humans Male Pandemics Pneumonia, Viral SARS-CoV-2

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• Source:
  MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2021; v. 70 Early Release
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Pages in Document:
  7 pdf pages
• Volume:
  70
• Collection(s):
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e491539184b46c80c832084bc692e0b03e0cd3244022d89befd613989e97babb3f795e6524b57f6d55a47a6f9453a45843320100f7468930d4b895366805a6cf
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/109527/cdc_109527_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 404.02 KB ]