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Source: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/covid-child-hospitalizations-immunity-debt
Child hospitalizations are spiking. Did COVID lockdowns create 'immunity debt'?
Hospitals are reporting never-before-seen surges in children with severe viral infections that are pushing critical care beyond capacity
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Author of the article:
Sharon Kirkey
Publishing date:
Nov 04, 2022 • 5 hours ago • 5 minute read •
A virus that infects and clogs a baby’s airways is running rampant. An Ottawa hospital where parents have camped out with sick kids in emergency for up to 20 hours has made the “gut-punch” decision to cancel some elective surgeries. In Montreal, doctors have likened the situation in their pediatric ERs to “a horror film,” not knowing what lurks around the corner.
“Anyone with young children will quickly agree that our kids seem to be getting more sick, and sick more often than in the past,” said Rodney Russell, a professor of immunology and virology at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
An unseasonably early crush of respiratory viral infections has once again raised the spectre of an “immunity debt,” a concept described by some as an unintended boomerang effect of distancing, masking and other COVID containment measures used to slow SARS-CoV-2’s spread.
Experts disagree about whether “immunity debt” is a real phenomenon or convenient pseudoscience. But hospitals are reporting never-before-seen surges in children with severe viral infections that are causing historically long wait times and pushing critical care beyond capacity...
Child hospitalizations are spiking. Did COVID lockdowns create 'immunity debt'?
Hospitals are reporting never-before-seen surges in children with severe viral infections that are pushing critical care beyond capacity
Get the latest from Sharon Kirkey straight to your inbox
Author of the article:
Sharon Kirkey
Publishing date:
Nov 04, 2022 • 5 hours ago • 5 minute read •
A virus that infects and clogs a baby’s airways is running rampant. An Ottawa hospital where parents have camped out with sick kids in emergency for up to 20 hours has made the “gut-punch” decision to cancel some elective surgeries. In Montreal, doctors have likened the situation in their pediatric ERs to “a horror film,” not knowing what lurks around the corner.
“Anyone with young children will quickly agree that our kids seem to be getting more sick, and sick more often than in the past,” said Rodney Russell, a professor of immunology and virology at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
An unseasonably early crush of respiratory viral infections has once again raised the spectre of an “immunity debt,” a concept described by some as an unintended boomerang effect of distancing, masking and other COVID containment measures used to slow SARS-CoV-2’s spread.
Experts disagree about whether “immunity debt” is a real phenomenon or convenient pseudoscience. But hospitals are reporting never-before-seen surges in children with severe viral infections that are causing historically long wait times and pushing critical care beyond capacity...