HOUSTON – Doctors in the Houston area say COVID is now a disease that impacts children.
Dr. Michael Chang, a pediatric infectious disease specialist with UT health, says of pediatric patients, teenagers and babies under one can be hit hardest by COVID-19.
The city of Houston and the medical examiner’s office said there have been zero deaths of kids under 12 months. However, the medical examiner says there have been five inquest cases, which means the death certificate lists COVID-19 as the cause of death, but there was no autopsy done by medical examiners.
“So, you know, yes, we’ve had infants die from COVID, and that’s even before Delta became an issue,” Dr. Chang said. “Kids are now being infected seemingly as easily as everyone else in the population, whereas we didn’t necessarily think that before.”
Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina said babies under one have always been at risk for severe complications of COVID.
“Just like obesity is, just like asthma, and so what that message is to parents is that if you have a kid under one, they need to be extra vigilant for COVID and for who’s holding the baby and who’s really around that baby until we can get a better understanding,” Jetelina said.
She says that means parents, caregivers and extended family need to be vaccinated and wearing masks around those young kids, especially since she says vaccinated people can spread the virus to unvaccinated.