ST. LOUIS — The leader of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force said a new number is highlighting the importance of the COVID-19 vaccination: the number of children hospitalized with COVID-19.
On Tuesday, Dr. Clay Dunagan said 20 children 18 and younger were hospitalized as of Tuesday, up from 13 last week. Three of the children under the age of 11 and four of the children from the ages of 12 to 18 are in the ICU.
He said that matched a national trend of children getting sicker. A spokeswoman for BJC said the number of children hospitalized for COVID-19 right now is comparable to the peak from last winter.
"It isn't just you that is being protected when you wear a mask and get vaccinated, you're also protecting others who are more vulnerable," Dr. Dunagan said. "Either because they have something that compromises their immune system or because they can't be vaccinated. Currently, kids that are 11 and under aren't eligible for the vaccine, and wearing a mask and getting vaccinated is the best way that we can protect them from becoming ill."
Dr. Dunagan said children are also playing another role in the current surge: spreaders. He said in many instances in the area, children who can't get vaccinated provided a way for the virus to infect others.
"Kids have become an important source of spread," Dr. Dunagan said. "So in a number of outbreaks that we have experienced in this area, as well as other parts of the country, children who are unvaccinated have become the point source for further outbreaks as they acquire the disease — in a summer camp, let's say — and then go spread it to vulnerable family members."
He said the best way to avoid situations like this is to get vaccinated, wear a mask and have your child wear a mask "in the right setting." He said one of the settings where children should wear a mask is when they return to school in the fall.
As for adults, the task force provided the first look into what percentage of their patients are not fully vaccinated. Unsurprisingly, 84% of the patients are not fully unvaccinated, while 16% of the patients are fully vaccinated. As of Tuesday, 439 patients were hospitalized. That is down from 452 on Monday, but up from 356 last Tuesday.
Of the 16% that are fully vaccinated people, Dr. Dunagan said the virus was either detected incidentally or the patients have compromised immune systems and their illness from COVID is "coming as a result of that compromise."
Those numbers reflect what doctors have seen in other countries, Dr. Dunagan said. He said information from other countries showed that unvaccinated people are two or three times more likely to be hospitalized with the delta variant when compared to previous variants and twice as likely to die.
"Those are scary odds," he said, "even more so when you consider the fact that they are avoidable when we take appropriate steps."
He encouraged everyone to get vaccinated as soon as possible, but especially expecting mothers. He said the number of pregnant women being admitted to the hospital and in intensive care due to COVID-19 is increasing.
He said one of the hospitals in the task force has admitted 10 pregnant women with COVID-19. He said that can lead to pre-term delivery, complications during an ICU stay and in some cases death.
Dr. Dunagan highlighted last week's advice from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine for pregnant women to get the COVID-19 vaccine. He said it could prevent the "disastrous" outcomes they've seen with some new mothers.
Dr. Dunagan made another appeal for people to wear masks until vaccination rates can improve. He acknowledged that the change may be confusing, but it is based on the escalating cases and what tools are available to slow that spread.
"As more and more cases accumulate, we know we will start having to make adjustments in other types of care that we deliver to the community, and that's why we are urgently appealing to the community to support us by wearing masks and getting vaccinated."
Dr. Dunagan also said stopping the spread is important to prevent further mutations of the virus from developing. He said another mutation could be more transmissible or deadly than the delta variant.
"Viruses are constantly mutating and as long as there is a large number of unvaccinated non-immune individuals in the population, we're set up for new virus forms to emerge," he said.
On Tuesday, the task force reported a seven-day average for admissions of 71, the highest since January 29. The seven-day average for deaths in task force hospitals reached six Thursday, the highest since late February and about 25% of the peak in December.
The data for August 3, 2021, is as follows:
- New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) decreased - from 65 yesterday to 63 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased – from 69 Monday to 71 Tuesday.
- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations increased – from 408 Monday to 420 Tuesday.
- Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations decreased – from 452 Monday 439 Tuesday.
- Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations decreased – from 39 Monday to 31 Tuesday.
- The number of confirmed COVID-positive patients in the ICUs decreased – from 124 Monday to 123 Tuesday.
- The number of confirmed COVID-positive patients on ventilators increased – from 57 Monday to 65 Tuesday.
- The number of COVID deaths decreased – from 8 Monday to 6 Tuesday.
- The seven-day moving average of COVID deaths increased – from 5 Monday to 6 Tuesday.
- Across the system hospitals, 80 were discharged, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 24,386.
- Today, staffed bed hospital capacity is at 92% an average across task force hospitals. The ICUs are at 80% of their total staffed bed capacity.