COVID-19 Update: Monday, August 30th

Myocarditis in children, data, a review of some important info, and general thoughts.

Did you miss me?

1. As children head back to school and parents worry and politicians and school boards battle - I wanted to share some updates on the situation with COVID among children. It is true that when we began that COVID was not impacting children the same as adults. And this is still true. But that statement does not mean that children aren't getting COVID. 5.9 million children in the US, have had COVID, 38k tested positive just Friday. This is about a 49% increase among children. Now....we sort of expected an increase because of going back to school. But 49% is high. Children still represent a small number of total cases, but hospitalizations among children are also up - and as the virus finds less and less vulnerable adult hosts (due to vaccination among adults) it is finding children. There are 1,337 children hospitalized with COVID at the time I am typing this. So please understand that children can indeed get COVID and it can be serious even in children with no preexisting conditions. You can follow this site for data and research associated with COVID among children: https://www.covkidproject.org/

2. That said....parents are facing the question of if they should vaccinate. I am a mother of 4 - so I completely understand this struggle, particularly in younger kids. I have been watching the negative outcomes associated with vaccination, and the one I am concerned about is myocarditis among young boys. This interests me because I like to do risk assessments and comparisons. Basically, which is greater, the risk of my child dying of COVID or having a severe reaction from the vaccine. Among children, Myocarditis poses the greatest risk in regards to possible negative outcomes from the vaccine. 20 million children in the US have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine (ages 12-17) among those, 375 cases of myocarditis have been reported. Essentially, 1 case of myocarditis for every 53k vaccines given. You have a 0.0000185% chance of developing it. The risk is highest among males, symptoms appear within the first 4 days with most people experiencing them within 24 hours. It can result in hospitalization and on average results in 2-4 days of hospitalization. In comparison - about 5 million children have had COVID which represents roughly 12% of children. About 2% of children are being hospitalized and the risk of death is about 0.2%. These numbers are not stone because some states don't report data for minors - this means these particular numbers could be higher but not lower. Risk of myocarditis from the vaccine = 0.0000185% Risk of your child dying from COVID if they get it: 0.2% Neither risk is very high but the average amount of time in the hospital is greater from COVID than myocarditis. I am attaching some data for those who are interested in seeing some numbers. A special thank you to Riccardo Padilla for pulling and sifting through these. The AAP is also tracking COVID numbers among peds, and includes state-level data you can follow that here: https://www.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/children-and-covid-19-state-level-data-report/ One last thought here, I have four children ranging in age from 12-21. My two high-school daughters were excited to get the vaccine. They said it made them feel less worried about getting COVID as they headed back to school and more comfortable in the social situations they participate in. Children around the world are reporting high levels of anxiety and stress surrounding COVID for a whole host of reasons - chat with your children about where they are emotionally/mentally. My youngest is not yet vaccinated because I wanted to see more numbers regarding the myocarditis issue - I was waiting to have these numbers. Keep asking questions, keep seeking information, and make the decisions that are right for you and your family and allow others to do the same.

3. Don't take animal meds - they are not designed for humans. If the vaccine is too experimental for you, ok. But let's also agree that animals meds should be too.

4. The Pfizer vaccine received full FDA approval, which I assume everyone already knows. What you may not know is that there was more safety and efficacy data for that vaccine than for any other vaccine ever approved.

5. Boosters - you don't need to stress over these or rush right out to get one unless you meet the following: a) elderly, b) high risk, c)either a or b AND it has been over 8 months since you got the original vaccine. For everyone else, put this on your list for sometime in the New Year.

6. I have been hearing quite a bit about "natural" immunity being stronger than vaccine immunity for COVID - and with many diseases that is actually true. But most of the research has shown that vaccine immunity is actually stronger with COVID than natural immunity. For those who lost their sense of smell with COVID, they are finding it often returns after getting vaccinated - so that is an additional plus. If you had COVID, you don't need to rush out and get the vaccine.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Last summer I took my family to a tiny little cabin in the woods - and while we were there, COVID numbers exploded. This year, we went to a tent in the mountains, and....well, you know what happened. Maybe I should give up on the idea of a vacation. But seriously, I know things are tough. You can see from the charts that we are trending in the wrong direction. Delta variant is spreading faster, making people sick faster, and causing more hospitalizations than "original" COVID. (I will post some explanations for all that later this week). Misinformation seems to have flared back up and those dreaded masks are something we need to dust off and strap back on. Ick!

I want to remind you that no one wants this. No one wants to mask, even the people advocating for masks. We all want the same thing, for this to be over, but alas....it is not. And that can be frustrating. It can very tempting to get angry about other people's choices. There are days I shake my head in disbelief....the rise in calls to poison control because people are getting sick from taking animal meds is unbelievable to me. Simply unbelievable. But it points to desperation. Throughout this pandemic, I have seen things that have made me angry. And like you, I have been frustrated and exhausted and discouraged too. So I understand. But just when I give up hope, people surprise me. And those gentle moments remind me that there is hope. There is light at the end of this very long tunnel. There are people who are still, genuinely seeking information. Please continue to be a voice of reason, facts, and acceptance. And most importantly, thank you for all you have done and all the things you didn't say despite the tempation.

Myocarditis 12-17 DATA.xlsx

Download XLSX • 128KB