The state of Michigan is breaking a record that nobody wants broken, children hospitalized with the Coronavirus are at the highest numbers seen during the pandemic. Even higher than during the fall surge.

The Michigan Hospital Association confirmed to Fox 2 in Detroit that pediatric patient hospitalizations grew by 311% from Feb. 19 to April 20, increasing from 17-70 inpatients.

Speaking at a press briefing earlier this week, Spectrum Health West Michigan President Darryl Elmouchi noted that the average age of those hospitalized with Covid-19 has dropped in the health system:

What we’re seeing during this surge is decidedly different from an age standpoint. You’re all aware that during the initial part of the pandemic and, quite honestly, until we had vaccines, we saw an older demographic coming to the hospital who were ill with COVID. Today in our hospital the average age of a patient with COVID-19 is 57. This is almost a decade younger than in the last surge.

Back in January the Governor urged school districts to resume some type of face to face instruction, and some experts believe that could be contributing to transmission rates in schools that were entirely virtual or hybrid in the fall.

Another issue facing kids is that the new variants of Covid-19 appear to be far more contagious, with the B117 strain becoming the predominant strain in Michigan.

Another factor likely contributing to the hospitalizations is that those under 16 are currently ineligible for any of the vaccines approved for emergency use. Although Kalamazoo based Pfizer has requested to expand it's use of its Covid-19 vaccine to adolescents ages 12 to 15.

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