As of Wednesday afternoon, Cook Children鈥檚 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.
鈥淲hen the positivity in the community is this high, it鈥檚 really hard to shield the vulnerable,鈥� Soria-Olmos said. 鈥淚n my mind, unfortunately, that鈥檚 every child, but in the situation we鈥檙e at, it's definitely every child that can鈥檛 be vaccinated.鈥�
Most currently admitted patients are not in intensive care units. Nine were in the hospital鈥檚 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.
鈥淲e 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鈥檚 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.
鈥淲e are scrambling every day, truly scrambling to look at where we can identify resources to help supplement staffing,鈥� said Cheryl Petersen, vice president and chief of nursing at Cook Children's. 鈥淚t's difficult. We want all children to have the best care possible, and so wait times are a little longer too.鈥�
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