Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reportedly shows that in children, hospitalizations for coronavirus were roughly the same, and most likely lower, than hospitalizations for the flu.
For adolescents ages 12 to 17, the rate of hospitalization for coronavirus was about three times higher than the rate of hospitalization during a typical flu season, New York Times senior writer David Leonhardt found. Coincidentally, for children ages 5 to 11, the rate of hospitalization for the flu during a typical season is about three times higher than the rate of hospitalization for adolescents.
By coincidence, the child hospitalization rate (ages 5-11) for a typical flu season is also roughly 3x the adolescent hospitalization rate for flu symptoms during a typical season…
(From: https://t.co/rcZisiy2Eu) pic.twitter.com/COFs6Mmjrc
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) June 5, 2021
“Together, these suggest that the adolescent hospitalization rate for Covid-19 symptoms happens to be similar to the child hospitalization rate (ages 5-11) for a typical flu season,” Leonhardt said. (RELATED: Wuhan Lab Researcher’s Wife Died Of COVID-Like Illness In December 2019, Former Lead US Investigator Says)
CDC data also reportedly shows that adolescents were hospitalized at .25 times the rate of children ages 5 to 11 for coronavirus symptoms.
The new CDC data also suggests that the adolescent hospitalization rate for Covid-19 symptoms is roughly .25x the child (ages 5-11) hospitalization rate for Covid-19 symptoms.
(Again, from: https://t.co/JMAYhk4MLi) pic.twitter.com/dxJNizSxc7
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) June 5, 2021
“If this math is correct, it suggests a typical child flu hospitalization rate (ages 5-11) is about 4 times higher than the Covid hospitalization rate for the same age group,” he claimed. “And if that’s correct, the overall Covid hospitalization rate for ages 5 to 17 is broadly similar to the overall flu hospitalization rate and probably modestly lower.”
The CDC’s website says that the risk of serious complications from the flu is higher than the risk of complications from coronavirus for “young children, especially children younger than 5 years old.”
“Compared to young children, teens and adolescents with COVID-19 are more likely to have Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), a rare but severe complication of COVID-19,” the CDC added. “However, for adolescents, the risk of serious COVID-19 illness is less than in children younger than 5.”