We are entering a crucial time in our efforts to slow down the spread of COVID-19; the Bay Area appears to have a “flatter curve” than other parts of the country but experts caution that our peak is expected to arrive next week. We remain open to serve our patients and our community; we are prioritizing well visits for certain age groups (0 to 24 months, 4-6 years, 11-13 years) to keep our patients on track with important vaccines, we are making telemedicine appointments for all sick visits, and we are following state and local guidelines to keep our patients and staff safe. Please see earlier updates for more details.
Cleo, our kitty correspondent based at Dr. Eileen’s house, has been diligently keeping up with the latest data and she wants to share some good news with you:
- on Monday the CDC released a report analyzing US data of laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases between 2/12/20 and 4/2/20. The bottom line: COVID-19 tends to be less severe in children.
- for those of you who want numbers:
- there were 149,760 cases in that time frame; 2,572 cases (1.7%) were in children < 18 years.
- in pediatric patients with confirmed cases 73% had symptoms of fever, cough or shortness of breath (93% of adults with COVID-19 had these symptoms)
- the hospitalization rate for all pediatric patients was 5.7% (adults had a 10% rate) and 3 pediatric deaths have been reported nationally.
- some key takeaways from the data are 1) relatively few kids with COVID-19 are sick enough to be hospitalized 2) fewer kids with COVID-19 experience the symptoms of fever, cough or shortness of breath 3) social distancing and preventative measures such as washing hands and avoiding touching your face are very important in reducing the transmission of COVID-19
- Testing is still limited in our area, and we still do not have access to unlimited testing at this time.
Team PWG is here to support our families and our community with important information; we are strong, and we will get through this!