More Children Missing School, Needing the Doctor's Office, Being Hospitalized and Many Requiring the ICU
COVID update: Feb 11, 2023 Excess Deaths in Working Age Adults Increasing the Most. XBB.1.5 : 95.2% of sequenced cases in the NE
“When the first winter lay white upon the earth, Eve sorely missed the beautiful things of the fields. An angel who pitied her seized a flake of the driving snow and, breathing on it, bade it live, for her delight. It fell to the earth a flower, which Eve caught to her breast with gladness, for not only did it break the spell of winter, but it carried assurance of divine mercy. Hence the flower means consolation and promise.” (1) Picture taken Feb 10, 2023
President Biden stated that “we’ve broken the COVID grip on us.” Unfortunately, this isn’t the reality that millions of people are feeling and living through. Millions of people have Long COVID, and are suffering from disabling conditions. Hundreds of thousands are being infected daily, which means that more people are missing work and school, impacting not only their health but also their finances and their children’s education. We are still seeing thousands of people die every week. In the U.S., nearly 19,000 people have died since January 1, 2023.
Biden and his administration failed to follow through on what was promised during the 2022 State of the Union Address. The Biden Administration wants to hide COVID away, but it is impacting us at every stage of life, shortening lives, diminishing productivity, and affecting inflation and the overall economy.
“2022 is the first year since 1983 when there’s been three straight quarters of year-over-year drops in average productivity per worker.”(2)
There is an illusion that only the oldest and weakest people are dying. The reality is that working age adults are being infected more frequently, and that is taking a serious toll on their health. Recent ONS data from England (pic below) shows that the excess deaths in 2022 are primarily among adults between the ages of 30 and 60. Losing a parent or spouse is a catastrophic loss for families and children. We talk about children’s mental health but aren’t doing anything to prevent a growing threat to their parents’ lives.
Graph by Jamie Jenkins @statsjamie Political/Economic commentator & Statistician | Previously head of health/jobs/wages stats @ONS
It is time to acknowledge that the excess deaths are caused by COVID. The XBB.1.5 variant is the most immune suppressive variant to date, and like variants before it, it is causing vascular dysfunction, which can lead to heart attacks & strokes.
XBB.1.5 Prevalence is at 95% in the Northeast U.S. and nearly 75% Nationally
XBB.1.5 continues towards total dominance in the Northeast U.S. and throughout the country. In the Northeast, this may be the first variant to reach over 95% prevalence since the beginning of the pandemic.
In the rest of the U.S., XBB.1.5 makes up nearly 75% of sequenced cases. We can see that it continues to expand and gain in prevalence across the country. The northwest U.S. has the least in the country, but it will likely continue to build unless something else comes into the picture.
XBB.1.5 evades antibodies from prior infections and even the BA.5 bivalent booster. It has been able to beat all of the monoclonal antibody treatments, and Paxlovid may not work as well. Paxlovid's availability may quickly come into question. Note that the FDA removed the requirement for a positive test, so if you or a family member has symptoms, contact your doctor right away to see if it is appropriate. It is most effective if taken within the first 5 days of symptoms starting.
Respiratory Illness Outpatient Visits
When schools reopened, the exponential growth between schools and homes resumed, from students to siblings, to new classrooms, to more students, and it continues to this day. In the past, the exponential growth took until early March to become visible. This is the fastest the exponential growth has returned to this point, indicating that it is likely to continue. Due to its growth through children, they are being impacted the most right now. As XBB.1.5 expands through parents, and workplaces the hospitalizations will increase in adults.
We can see that not only are children missing school to go the doc’ offices more, but many are needing hospitalization and even the ICU.
Percentage of Inpatient Beds Occupied in the United States
This was reported on the HHS website, but as of February 2, 2023, they moved all the reporting over to the CDC data tracker site. They don’t like to make it easy to find this information by moving it around. Having said that, we can see that the number of pediatric inpatient beds in use is increasing. This is most pronounced in the Northeast, as we can see below, where XBB.1.5 cases are most prevalent.
Percentage of Inpatient Beds Occupied in the Northeast U.S. (HHS Region 2)
We can see that in this region, the pediatric hospitalizations are climbing faster and that translates into more children needing the ICU.
This information is very important for parents and schools to consider when thinking about protecting children, parents, teachers and the community from XBB.1.5 and at least four other prevalent viruses. Norovirus, human metapneumovirus, the common cold coronavirus, and parainfluenza type 2 are much more prevalent this year than last year at this time.
Co-Infections
We have to keep in mind that co-infections happen more often than people think. Co-infections are often more severe. In a meta-analysis of 59 studies, they found that co-infection was significantly higher in hospitalized children than adults. Patients with two diseases were more likely to have trouble breathing, and their chances of dying were increased. “co-infection was associated with a higher case-fatality rate (6.7% in mono-infected vs. 18.2% in co-infected patients)”
Flu coinfections were highest, followed by enteroviruses, adenoviruses, coronaviruses, metapneumonviruses, and RSV. The full breakdown is pictured below.
Just in case this isn’t clear enough, everyone should absolutely be wearing N-95 or a similar quality masks to reduce the level of exposure and help reduce transmission of COVID and these other viruses.
The media and public health sources would like us to believe that COVID has become less dangerous and is not a significant concern. The media reports have dwindled to nearly zero. It is more important than ever to have independent sources, that are not beholden to large donors, political parties, or any other groups. Updates are based on the most recent verifiable science and data. If you find the information important and useful, please become a paid subscriber today. Thank you for your support.