Concerns as children below age of 2 make up 10% of Covid admissions

With a sustained increase in Covid cases in Gauteng, which appear to be concentrated in Tshwane, health experts have raised concerns about the higher numbers of hospital admissions among the young people and children under the age of two.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases’ Dr Waasila Jassat said children below the age of two accounted for 10% of 862 total hospital admissions in Gauteng and due to their “immature immune system” and not being vaccinated, they were more at risk.

Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Prof Glenda Davison said although it was not surprising to see most of the infections occurring in Gauteng, it was unusual and worrying to see more very young children being admitted to hospital.

“It’s important to note that those young children are not vaccinated as yet, as we’ve only offered vaccinations to those above 12 years old,” she said.

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“So you probably find that it is most transmissible among younger children but it doesn’t seem as if the disease is any more severe than with the other variants.”

However, Dr Elize Webb of the school of health systems and public health at the University of Pretoria said if omicron was mild, which “it currently looked like” omicron could be a “good thing” to SA specifically, as many of those unvaccinated would be infected, experience mild disease, and potentially lead to a situation where everyone becomes immune.

“If omicron causes mild disease, yet is highly infectious, that is more ideal than a virus killing its host,” she said.

Jassat said part of the increased rate of admissions may reflect extra precaution on the part of parents, given the new mutation.

“People are more likely to admit children as a precaution because if you treat them at home something can go wrong, especially very young children because there is a higher proportion of death,” Jassat said.

However, Davison said while symptoms have been described as mild, the exact risk from the new strain was still uncertain.

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“I think it’s too early to make any more conclusions that this variant is milder, but one thing I can say is that viruses always mutate and the tendency is for them to mutate into a milder form,” she added.

Epidemiologist Dr Jo Barnes said the most recent information on the state of Covid infections in Gauteng confirmed that a significant majority of the hospitalised cases were unvaccinated people, most below 40 years of age.

“This age group is the most technologically sophisticated. Antivaxx sentiments are readily shared among them. Many cling to the belief that they will not get very ill and therefore do not really have to get vaccinated.”

– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za