Soaring hospitalisations of children with Covid-19 a stark reminder pandemic is not over

42% of all hospitalisations of children with the virus have been in the period since December 22

While vaccination is now — finally — available for children aged from 5 to 11, as of last Thursday only 27% of them had been registered to receive  one.

We are in a funny time with Covid-19.

With the soon-to-be-disbanded National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) advising that restrictions can cease, and that the requirement for masks to be worn in retail and school settings can be done away with from the end of this month, you’d be forgiven for thinking the pandemic is over.

There are a lot of factors at stake here. Society has been through the mill over the past 23 months. 

Everyone has craved normality, and I certainly don’t begrudge anyone who wants to get back to their normal life as best they can.

Society has also fundamentally changed. 

I can’t imagine not wearing a mask in a crowded retail space anytime soon, not because of fear of the virus, but out of courtesy to my fellow man. 

I’d say many people feel the same way.

One of the contradictions of our current situation is that the Covid restrictions may be gone, but the endless isolation periods if you have the illness most certainly are not.

A number of people I know, together with their families, have contracted Covid in recent times, and have had horrible experiences with it. Their survival has never been in question, but the fact is, the virus is no joke.

For some people however, the minority certainly, Covid-19 in its current guise is very much a threat. 

Some of the older generation, the immunocompromised, those with less agency than you or I. 

My own wife is heavily pregnant at present, and a Covid diagnosis between now and D-Day is what we are most fearful of.

Then there are children.

It is interesting that the restrictions we had grown so accustomed to were dropped so suddenly, because for about six weeks after Christmas, the HSE was unable to tell me how many children had been hospitalised with Omicron due to the “prioritisation of resources during this surge period”.

That changed quietly last week, though you may not have heard about it — the missing data for children under the age of 14 is now available. It isn’t pretty.

Between December 22 and February 17, there were 596 hospitalisations of children aged 0-14 with Covid-19.

For context, that represents 42% of all hospitalisations to date, since the beginning of the pandemic, across that age group. 

There were 106 hospitalisations in children aged 0-14 in the seven days up to January 29, the highest number recorded in one week since the pandemic began.

There have been an average of just under four children in paediatric intensive care beds in the three Children’s Hospital Ireland institutions in Dublin for the past 10 days. That is 16% of the available beds taken up with Covid cases.

While vaccination is now — finally — available for children aged from 5 to 11, as of last Thursday only 27% of them had been registered to receive  one.

Some of that may stem from the three-week holdover period for children following a Covid infection, but not all. 

For different reasons — parental fears of the unknown being what you would imagine is the most prevalent — many children will not receive a vaccine.

All week, every week, the only cohort of the population which is mostly unvaccinated is being sent out into a world riddled with the virus. 

And now they are being told not to wear masks.

Maybe for their sake, consider staying masked-up for a bit longer. Is it really that much to ask?