Number Of Children Admitted To UPMC Children's Hospital With COVID-19 Continues To Rise
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Doctors at UPMC Children's Hospital say there has been a slight increase in the number of kids admitted to the hospital with COVID-19.
Doctors say the hospital had some patients admitted on Tuesday, but it's too soon to say if there's a noticeable trend right now.
Doctors want to reiterate that the kids who are admitted to the hospital are sick because of the Sars-Co-V-2 virus. Doctors said they're not coming into the hospital with something else and then getting COVID-19.
While it's still unclear if the Delta variant is making children sicker, doctors believe more kids are getting the virus because of how contagious the Delta variant is.
What symptoms should parents be on the lookout for?
"If the child is having trouble breathing or seems severely ill, that's always a reason to check in with your health care provider. Or if the child has these respiratory symptoms, a fever, cough, congestion and they're known to have COVID exposure, that would be another reason to check in with their health care provider," said Division Chief of Infectious Diseases at UPMC Children's Hospital Dr. John Williams.
Dr. Williams said around half of the kids admitted to UPMC Children's Hospital have underlying health conditions.
In addition to COVID-19, doctors say they're noticing a rise in kids being hospitalized with respiratory syncytial virus, also known as RSV. It's a respiratory virus that Dr. Williams said typically comes around in the winter and is mostly seen in infants.
Since mitigation efforts like masking were relaxed, he believes that's causing the virus to pop up.
As far as capacity concerns, Dr. Williams said there is plenty of space for patients.