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Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/saskatchewan-emergency-children-1.6369677
'Likely COVID': Saskatchewan emergency rooms seeing more children under 5
Sask. hospitals showing more respiratory-like illnesses between ages of 1 and 4
Mickey Djuric · The Canadian Press · Posted: Mar 02, 2022 9:14 AM CT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago
Saskatchewan is seeing a spike in emergency room visits among children between the ages of one and four who are showing up with respiratory-like illnesses.
Chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, said it's likely COVID-19, because there's little influenza transmission in the province and vaccines against the virus have not yet been approved for children under five.
"Any COVID-like illness presentation in emergency rooms — where even you may not have been screened in every case — it's likely COVID-19," Shahab said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press.
The latest data from the Ministry of Health, dated Feb. 19, showed preschoolers were visiting emergency rooms at a weekly rate of 110 patients per 1,000. That was higher than the average rate — 87.5 patients per 1,000 visits — in the previous six weeks for the same age group.
Children between one and four years old were almost three times more likely to visit the emergency room compared to all age groups combined...
'Likely COVID': Saskatchewan emergency rooms seeing more children under 5
Sask. hospitals showing more respiratory-like illnesses between ages of 1 and 4
Mickey Djuric · The Canadian Press · Posted: Mar 02, 2022 9:14 AM CT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago
Saskatchewan is seeing a spike in emergency room visits among children between the ages of one and four who are showing up with respiratory-like illnesses.
Chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, said it's likely COVID-19, because there's little influenza transmission in the province and vaccines against the virus have not yet been approved for children under five.
"Any COVID-like illness presentation in emergency rooms — where even you may not have been screened in every case — it's likely COVID-19," Shahab said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press.
The latest data from the Ministry of Health, dated Feb. 19, showed preschoolers were visiting emergency rooms at a weekly rate of 110 patients per 1,000. That was higher than the average rate — 87.5 patients per 1,000 visits — in the previous six weeks for the same age group.
Children between one and four years old were almost three times more likely to visit the emergency room compared to all age groups combined...
