Pediatric COVID-19 cases could overwhelm resources
As pediatric cases of COVID-19 grow, a new study warns that pediatric care centers could become overwhelmed.
An empirical case projection study estimated the rates of children infected with COVID-19 in the United States and projected the cumulative number of cases of children who were severely ill and required hospitalization. They projected the number of severely and critically ill children using application of adjusted severity and criticality proportions to population data in the United States, using combined pediatric infection proportion (CPIP) and various scenarios.
A CPIP scenario of 5% would lead to an estimated 3.7 million pediatric COVID-19 infections; 2997 children who were severely ill and needed to be hospitalized; and 1086 critically ill children who required treatment in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). More moderate CPIP scenarios also indicated that the cases could overextend PICU capabilities.
For more on the study, read more from our sister publication Drug Topics.
