As of Wednesday afternoon, Cook Children’s Health Care System had 69 pediatric patients admitted with COVID. The previous high was set last week, when the hospital had 51 COVID patients.
Dr. Bianka Soria-Olmos, a pediatrician at Cook Children's, said high rates of COVID transmission in the region increase the risk for children.
“When the positivity in the community is this high, it’s really hard to shield the vulnerable,” Soria-Olmos said. “In my mind, unfortunately, that’s every child, but in the situation we’re at, it's definitely every child that can’t be vaccinated.”
Most currently admitted patients are not in intensive care units. Nine were in the hospital’s emergency department as of Wednesday.
Soria-Olmos says the highly contagious omicron variant seems to present differently in children compared to other strains of the coronavirus.
“We are seeing more and more kids present with this upper airway inflammation that basically causes them to have difficulties, with inflammation of the upper airway," she said. "It causes a very distinct type of cough. It's a very tight cough that almost sounds like a seal or a barky cough...."
Hospital staff are also seeing high rates of infection. Cook Children’s is following new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), allowing staff who test positive to return to work after five days if they are asymptomatic. Officials say 165 employees are currently out with COVID across the hospital system.
“We are scrambling every day, truly scrambling to look at where we can identify resources to help supplement staffing,” said Cheryl Petersen, vice president and chief of nursing at Cook Children's. “It's difficult. We want all children to have the best care possible, and so wait times are a little longer too.”
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