A study of coronavirus patients found that younger children were hospitalized at a significantly higher rate during the omicron variant surge, undermining conservative claims that the virus wasn’t a risk to children, the Washington Post reports.
Children under five years old were five times more likely to be hospitalized with the omicron variant, and infants under six months old, the rate was elevated to six times the normal rate of hospitalizations. Although the children had significant symptoms, few fatalities were reported.
Also contrary to conservative claims that only people with pre-existing conditions are adversely impacted by the coronavirus, data show that nearly two-thirds of the hospitalized children had no pre-existing conditions, the same with 44% of the infants.