COVID-19 cases in B.C. children and youth on the rise

COVID-19 infection rates of children and youth in British Columbia have been increasing in the past few weeks.

During her weekly COVID-19 update today, Sept. 28, Dr. Bonnie Henry outlined the stats, which showed that cases in children, particularly in school age children who are under the age of 12 and ineligible for a vaccination, have been on the rise.

The provincial health officer presented new figures relating to positive cases identified in children and youth between Sept. 17 and 23, and compared them to total cases identified in B.C. throughout the entirety of the pandemic.

Over the course of that week, there were 164 new cases identified in children aged 0 to 4 (4,534 total cases to date), 658 cases in children aged 5 to 11 (10,412 total), and 261 cases in those age 12 to 7 (11,056).

Also that week, there were two kids aged 0 to 4 administered to hospitals with COVID-19 complications (92 to date), one child age 5 to 11 was hospitalized (41 total) and one youth age 12 to 17 was taken to hospital (41 total).

There was also one child age 0 to 4 admitted to intensive care, and a total of 10 kids in that age group have been treated in an ICU. Three kids age 5 to 11 and six youths age 12 to 17 have been treated in ICU since the start of the pandemic, though none were admitted to the ICU during the week in question.

Though these numbers show that COVID cases in children are on the rise, Henry noted there have been no new deaths recorded in children, though there had already been two children, both between the ages of 0 to 4, who have died due to COVID-19.

Henry said the increasing rate of infection in both children who are ineligible for a shot and for those who can get vaccinated, are a concern and need to be monitored.

“The rates that we are seeing right now for COVID-19 per 100,000 population is going up quite dramatically, particularly in those younger school aged children who are not yet eligible for vaccination. It has gone up, but leveled off in the 12 to 17 year age group, as other age groups are coming down,” said Henry.

“But this reflects, of course, the regions where we are seeing transmission, so we need to break this down and try to understand who is being affected and where.”

Henry stated that testing has been on the rise recently, especially in school aged children as they have returned to class, but the positivity rate has stayed flat or gone down in most age groups, but not in children ages 5 to 11, where the positivity rate is consistently within the five to 10 per cent range.

Breaking the data down further, Henry said case rates in all children and youth groups were increasing prior to the start of the school year, especially in the Interior and the Northern Health regions. She said this data reflects the vaccination rates and transmission of the virus within those communities, which in turn translates into transmission within families. She notes the data shows that communities where vaccination rates are higher have lower rates in COVID-19 cases in school age children.

“If we look at the different communities within the regional health authorities, we can see that are testing positive are children age 5-11 are in the Fraser East region, and this is the area of Fraser Health where we have the lowest immunization rate in any community and where are starting to see cases start to take off in adults and other age groups,” said Henry.

“We also see parts of the Interior where we have the lower immunization rates, again we’re seeing school age children being affected.”

The data breakdown from the province shows the Kootenay Boundary having the most of these cases in the Interior, followed by the East Kootenay area, then the Thompson Cariboo Shuswap region, followed by the Okanagan.

Dr. Henry noted that while monitoring the areas where cases continue to rise and vaccination uptake is slow is important, the province is also focusing attention on monitoring severe illnesses that come out of these regions.

Henry said those who are unvaccinated have a much higher rate of infection across all age groups than those who have received the jabs, adding that all communities that have higher vaccination rates have much less infections, especially in children age 5 to 11.

“So that puts it in some perspective for us, and it really tells us the measure of how important immunization is, and shows how immunization protects those who are not able to be vaccinated.”

In addition to the increased monitoring, the B.C. Government is implementing new K to 12 School Web notifications.

Effective immediately, Regional Health Authorities will start posting ‘potential exposure events’ stemming from school transmission on the BCCDC website and the websites of the respective health authority.

The province notes that there may delays with relaying this information as they do have to wait for lab results to confirm a positive case, and parents and guardians are asked to monitor their children for any symptoms and to not send them to school if they are sick.

Henry also noted that while there have been no confirmed influenza cases as of yet, there have been some other respiratory illnesses recorded in B.C. recently, and she encourages people to stay home when they have any illness.