Covid hospitalization rates increase among teens, CDC director urges vaccinations

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Fri, 2021-06-04 12:49 — mike kraft

CDC director urges parents to vaccinate teens, noting increased hospitalization rates Hospitalizations for adolescents went up in March and April, even as they stabilized for those 65 and older, new study finds. Lena H. Sun Washington Post

Citing increased hospitalization rates of teenagers with covid-19 in March and April, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky urged parents to vaccinate their teens to protect them from an illness that can be severe even among young people.

“I am deeply concerned by the numbers of hospitalized adolescents and saddened to see the numbers of adolescents who required treatment in intensive care units or mechanical ventilation,” Walensky said in a statement that was released Friday alongside a new study looking at trends in hospitalization among adolescents with the disease.

“Much of this suffering can be prevented,” Walensky added, urging “parents, relatives and close friends to join me and talk with teens” about the importance of prevention strategies and to encourage vaccination.

The study showed that nearly one-third of those teenagers hospitalized with covid-19 during a surge of cases early this year required intensive care, and 5 percent required mechanical ventilation.

While most covid-19 hospitalizations occur in older adults, severe disease that requires hospitalization has been shown to occur in all age groups. Covid-19 hospitalization rates among adolescents declined in January and February 2021, the report said, but increased during March and April, even as hospitalization rates stabilized for those 65 and older, likely because of their higher rates of vaccination.

Researchers suggest the increased hospitalization among adolescents in March and April may be related to several factors, including more transmissible and potentially more dangerous virus variants, larger numbers of youths returning to school, and changes in physical distancing, mask-wearing and other prevention behaviors. ...

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