September 25, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — A recent study completed at the Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. reveals no significant differences in data of children who have contracted COVID-19 and those who had the seasonal flu.
This study focused on 1,042 flu patients and 315 with COVID, and on the “rates of hospitalization, admission to the intensive care unit, and mechanical ventilator use.” In the case of the first two categories, the rates were slightly higher with the influenza patients than those with coronavirus. The percentages of hospitalizations added up to 21 with influenza compared to 17 with COVID-19. ICU admissions were 7 percent in flu patients contrasted to 6 percent who had the coronavirus. Regarding mechanical ventilator usage, the COVID rate was higher by one percentage point at 3 percent.
Another conclusion concerned the data regarding symptoms patients exhibited during the time of diagnosis. According to the study, “a greater proportion of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had underlying medical conditions and reported fever, diarrhea or vomiting, headache, body ache or myalgia, or chest pain.” A final significant piece of information from the study is that while “two patients with influenza A died … [n]o deaths were observed among patients with COVID-19 or influenza B.”
The intent of the study was to explore the ways the coronavirus has affects children. According to the Mayo Clinic, “most kids who are infected typically don’t become as sick as adults,” and most children have mild to no symptoms, as compared to older COVID patients. Further public data from the CDC state that 8.5% of total of cases in the United States have been from children 17 years and younger, while deaths have remained low at less than 0.1% for the younger age groups.
The full study can be read here.