An increasing number of children infected with COVID-19 are being admitted to the Montreal Children's Hospital.
"The overwhelming majority of children admitted are not admitted because of COVID-19," explains Pediatric Infectious Diseases Specialist Dr. Earl Rubin. "They are admitted for other reasons and are then found to have COVID-19."
According to the Quebec health ministry, there are currently 23 children under the age of nine being treated for the virus in Quebec hospitals.
Due to their age, none of the children are adequately vaccinated against COVID-19.
"I wouldn't look at hospital admissions as a parent," Rubin notes. "That is our problem in the hospitals, to make sure we have the manpower to make sure we can take care of anybody who is admitted."
He points out most of the children currently hospitalized with COVID-19 would have been admitted even if they did not test positive for the virus. For example, a newborn with a fever.
"It [the virus] is so pervasive and prevalent in the community," Rubin notes. "It doesn't mean it's more severe, it's just a little out of control."
However, he admits it's normal for parents of young children to be worried.
"I wouldn't be concerned that they would get too sick," he said. "The major issue is when they come home from daycare, who are they coming home to? Is there a vulnerable person they're coming home to?"
Rubin states the best way to keep the entire family safe is to make sure that every eligible person is fully vaccinated.
"Where it is effective is to prevent serious disease," he stresses. "Children don't get seriously ill, but that doesn't mean children shouldn't get vaccinated."
According to the Quebec Institute of Public Health (INSPQ), 15 per cent of COVID-19 cases during the current wave are children between zero and nine years old -- 29,313 cases.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 61,595 children under the age of nine have contracted the virus, 10.8 per cent of total cases.
The INSPQ states children in this age group account for 3.7 per cent of hospitalizations, that is 139 cases.
Of that number, 1.7 per cent, or 15 children, have ended up in ICU.
Cumulatively, that percentage drops to 1.2 per cent, or 326 children, admitted to hospital and 0.9 per cent, or 48 kids, in ICU.
Experts say the best way to combat dire cases of the disease in small children is to encourage vaccination.
Quebec opened vaccinations for children aged five to 11 at the end of November.
So far, 364,410 children in this age group have gotten their first dose of a vaccine, 56 per cent of that population.
Subsequently, 2,975 children, or less than one per cent, have received a second dose and four have received a third.
The fourth wave is considered to have started on July 18, 2021 and is ongoing.
