MONTREAL — About two-thirds of all COVID-19 hospitalizations involving children under 10 in Quebec have taken place since Dec. 5, new data shows, yet the overall number of kids in hospital with respiratory infections is lower than normal.

There have been 784 COVID-19-related hospitalizations of children under 10 since the start of the pandemic — two per cent of the total number of COVID-19 patients in the province, the government-run research centre Institut national de santé publique du Québec indicated. Since early December, 518 hospitalizations have involved kids under 10, representing about 4.3 per cent of the total.

"The younger group is definitely at much, much higher levels than has been seen before in the pandemic," Jesse Papenburg, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Montreal Children's Hospital, said Friday in an interview.

He said the sharp rise in young patients is likely due to the explosion of cases linked to the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

"It's a numbers game," Papenburg said. "There are just so many infections going on in the community, that the tip of the iceberg of severe disease has risen and we're seeing more of these hospitalizations."

Omicron, however, is less likely to cause severe disease in children compared with the Delta variant, he said. 

Children under five have the highest hospitalization rate of any pediatric age group, Papenburg said.

A report released Thursday by Quebec's immunization committee said two per cent of COVID-19 infections in children under five during the fifth wave led to hospitalizations. That's compared with 0.3 per cent of infections that led to hospital visits for unvaccinated children five and older. Kids under five are not eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The deaths of at least two children under five in Quebec have been linked to COVID-19, hospitals have said. 

But despite the increase in pediatric hospitalizations associated with COVID-19, the number of children in hospital with respiratory infections is "still below what we would see at this time of year, typically for other respiratory viruses, such as respiratory syncytial virus or influenza," Papenburg said.

He said he thinks about half of the pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations are directly related to the disease, with the other half involving children admitted to hospital for other reasons who then test positive. However, he said the distinction is not always clearcut, as COVID-19 may exacerbate other conditions.

Earlier Friday, Quebec reported 42 more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus. The Health Department said hospitalizations dropped by 96 compared with the prior day, to 2,541, after 200 people were admitted to hospital and 296 patients were discharged. The number of people listed in intensive care dropped by seven, to 184.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2022.

———

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Jacob Serebrin, The Canadian Press