(WXYZ) — Coronavirus cases are on the rise among children in Michigan.
Back in August, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported just over 3,600 pediatric cases. But in October alone, they recorded over 7,100. That’s quite the jump. Now, most of the kids that tested positive, roughly 79% were between the ages of 10 and 19. The rest were 9 and under.
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Currently, there are 18 children hospitalized across the state. We do not know much about the 18 children who are hospitalized due to privacy concerns. But we do know that 15 of them tested positive for the virus, while the other three are suspected to be infected. Now we know that overall, kids do not get seriously sick with COVID-19. Most have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. But let me be clear, children can and do get seriously sick. A few have sadly died; health officials say the number is less than 5 here in Michigan. But children can be long-haulers, meaning they can suffer long-lasting health effects.
Multisystem inflammatory syndrome or MIS-C for short is a serious condition that appears to be linked to COVID-19. What happens is parts of the body like the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, or GI organs can get inflamed. Now, most children do get better with medical care, but a few have died. As for the children recently hospitalized, again, due to privacy concerns, we don’t have many details. But we do know that so far, 35 children in Michigan have been diagnosed with MIS-C. Twenty of them were 9 and younger, while the rest were between 10 and 19 years of age.
Last week, there were a total of 45 outbreaks in schools, up from 30 the week prior. That includes all Michigan's schools: pre-kindergarten through grade 12, and colleges and universities. And Wayne and Kent counties have had the most new cases. So, cases are going up in schools and we need to do everything we can to keep our children from getting infected. Just because the majority of kids don’t get seriously sick, doesn’t mean that we can let our guard down. Kids can have mild or no symptoms and they can pass it to someone who could get very very ill.
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