This episode of Michigan Minds is part of a special series. Listen to more episodes.
As part of a special series that focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic, Alison Tribble, MD, joins Michigan Minds to discuss how children in particular are affected by masking, vaccines, and the delta variant. Tribble is an assistant professor of pediatrics in the division of pediatric infectious diseases at CS Mott Children’s Hospital. She is also the medical director of the Pediatric Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP), a hospital program that works to optimize antimicrobial use throughout Mott to improve outcomes from infections and to minimize the negative impact of antibiotics.
Tribble explains how early on in the pandemic, children were more sheltered as school was conducted online and extracurricular activities were cancelled. In recent months, in-person activities and events have started back up and the level of caution for children has decreased, which has led to a rise in COVID-19 cases for children. Tribble states that the first week of September was the highest number of reported cases since the start of the pandemic where there were 250,000 cases in children reported in that week alone.
“I think we’ve seen, now especially with this more transmissible delta variant, that kids can absolutely contract this virus. We are all a little bit tired of the pandemic and I think, understandably, we need to get back to our regular lives and we are especially needing to get kids in schools; they’re now in a lot more environments where they have the opportunity to contract the virus and so we’ve definitely seen an increase in cases and children,” she says.
As children are known for being resilient, Tribble explains that most children do not experience severe illness when contracting the virus. However, there are still children who do get extremely sick. She says that since the start of the pandemic, about 1% of children with COVID-19 are hospitalized. As a result, with the rise in cases amongst children, pediatric hospitalizations have also increased.
Tribble also describes Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C) and how it relates to pediatric COVID-19 cases. She explains that the condition is most commonly found in children two to eight weeks after they have contracted the virus. As the symptoms of MIS-C don’t look like a regular virus, she explains, children can experience high fevers, abdominal pain, vomiting, rashes, problems with heart function, and keeping their blood pressure up.
“These children can get very sick—a lot of them end up in the ICU. There have been a few deaths from it [MIS-C], although most kids recover from it fully, but they can get very sick in the process.”
Tribble outlines helpful tips for parents as their children are going to school during the delta variant surge.
“I think one thing that parents need to remember is that kids really take on our perception of things and if we complain a lot and we present things in a really negative light, our kids are going to internalize that, especially in a situation where they don’t really have a choice — like if you’re in a school where you have to wear a mask. It doesn’t really matter, you have to do it, and so it’s much better to equip your kids with a positive attitude and try to put a positive spin on things,” Tribble says.
She advises parents to let their children complain about the cautious measures needed to take, but to also try to help them understand the reasons why those measures are in place.
“We’re doing this for other people and I think that’s a really important lesson for kids to learn. Trying to keep a positive attitude is something that we should definitely be doing for our kids.”
