随着美国冠状病毒病例接近去年冬天记录的近峰值水平，儿科冠状病毒感染和住院水平现在正飙升至数月来的最高点。

根据美国儿科学会和儿童医院协会的一份新报告，上周，近20万名美国儿童新冠肺炎检测呈阳性，自12月初以来增长了约50%。儿童住院人数也在迅速增加。

根据联邦政府的数据，全国目前有2100多名儿童因确诊或疑似新冠肺炎病例住院治疗，比一个月前增加了约800名儿科患者。

随着越来越多的新冠肺炎阳性儿童入院接受治疗，医护人员和专家对这一令人担忧的趋势敲响了警钟。

UH彩虹婴儿和儿童医院内科和儿科重症护理副教授肯尼斯·雷米博士告诉美国广播公司新闻，“在这个美利坚合众国，我们最珍贵的商品是我们的孩子。“而现在，我们着火了。”

与新冠肺炎儿科相关的每日住院人数在过去一个月增加了一倍多，增长了110%。现在，平均每天有300多名儿童住院。

保罗·轩尼诗/索帕图片通过美国西帕通过美联社，文件

在这张2021年11月2日的档案照片中，一名护士给一名男孩注射了辉瑞新冠肺炎疫苗.

根据卫生专家的说法，多种因素共同导致了疫情的激增。最初的催化剂是delta变体，随后是最近发现的omicron变体。此外，疫苗接种率，特别是儿科人群中的接种率，继续滞后，使许多儿童易患严重疾病。

迄今为止，不到三分之一的合格儿童(5至17岁)已经完全接种疫苗。

6个州报告有100多名儿童因新冠肺炎而住院

在州一级，纽约因新冠肺炎住院的儿童比该国任何其他州都多，特别是在纽约市，儿童似乎首当其冲地受到该州最近儿科病例激增的影响。

在不到三周的时间里，纽约州卫生专员玛丽·巴塞特(Mary Bassett)在周一与州长凯西·霍楚尔(Kathy Hochul)的一次更新中报告说，自12月5日那一周以来，纽约市的人口增长了五倍。

“没有理由。我们有货源。我们有能力。我们已经为每个有资格接种疫苗的孩子准备好了工作人员，”霍楚尔说，他敦促父母利用寒假为孩子接种疫苗。

六个州——佐治亚州、伊利诺伊州、纽约州、俄亥俄州、宾夕法尼亚州、得克萨斯州——目前有100多名儿童因新冠肺炎病住院。

在宾夕法尼亚州，费城儿童医院的政策实验室上周警告说，它在该地区检测的儿童中发现“检测阳性率急剧上升”。

该组织写道:“这些数据支持了这样一个事实，即与成年人相比，现在儿童中的传播正在不成比例地增加。“我们看到住院儿童中有中度至重度疾病的病例，包括其他方面健康的儿童，尤其是那些没有接种疫苗的儿童。”

在俄亥俄州，目前有200多名儿童与新冠肺炎一起住院，代顿儿童医院的首席医疗官亚当·迈佐夫博士告诉美国广播公司新闻，他对最近受感染儿童的增加感到担忧。

“这似乎正在打击年轻群体，在这个时候，”梅佐夫说，并补充说，鉴于奥米克龙的传染性，他预计会有更多的人住院。“现在很难估计他们会病到什么程度，因为我们没有足够的信息。”

来自南非的初步数据估计，在该国由omicron驱动的第四波疫情中，儿童住院的风险高出20%，因为如此多的儿童仍未接种疫苗，因此得不到保护。

“我们必须密切关注这一点，”白宫首席医疗顾问安东尼·福奇博士周一对美国广播公司的“早安美国”节目说。“这就是为什么我们现在说我们有能力和权力给5到11岁的孩子接种疫苗，我们鼓励父母，如果你有一个5到11岁的孩子，请给那个孩子接种疫苗，以防止他们得到任何类似严重疾病的东西。”

尽管新冠肺炎导致的严重疾病在儿童中仍然“不常见”，但根据AAP和CHA的说法，专家强调，年轻人对病毒或严重疾病和死亡没有免疫力。

根据美国疾病控制与预防中心的数据，儿童感染新冠肺炎病毒的可能性与成人一样高，该病毒现在是5至11岁儿童死亡的十大原因之一。

在俄亥俄州东北部，雷米说，他的医院发生的事情“反映了”该国其他地方正在发生的儿童问题，进一步驳斥了儿童不受新冠肺炎影响的误解。

雷米说:“可悲的是，我们在过去几周看到的不仅仅是缓慢增加，而是儿童因这种疾病而生病并进入重症监护室的直接上升趋势。“可悲的是，我们看到我们机构和其他机构的儿童失去了生命。因此，我们的处境与几个月前不同。”

梅佐夫说，他担心会有很多生病的孩子，他也深感担忧的是，没有足够的工作人员来照顾他们。

梅佐夫说:“大量生病的儿童和具有挑战性的员工数量的结合确实给我们带来了很多担忧。

雷米补充说，他和他的同事们担心，未来几周将有更多的人，包括儿童，进入医院的重症监护室。

“我们不只是向上飞弧。我们正在直线上升，”雷米说。“突然间，在接下来的几周内，情况会变得更糟，可悲的是，太多的人将失去生命。”

这是不需要动脑筋的

随着病毒继续传播，专家强调，疫苗接种仍然是最好的工具，不仅可以保护儿童免于生病，还可以改变疫情的轨迹。

“如果我知道我家外面着火了，我会确保我有灭火器。我会确保我有一条出路，并为我的孩子制定一个逃生计划，”雷米说，再次用他的大胆比喻来解释正在发展的疫情当前的危机。“现在……着火了，我们有东西可以扑灭大部分火焰。”

迈佐夫指出，截至目前，代顿儿童医院尚未为一名接种疫苗的新冠肺炎阳性儿童提供护理。

雷米说，获得资格并戴口罩也仍然是保护那些还太小而无法接种疫苗的人的关键。

“我们知道，这些事情将平息那些火焰，保护我们的孩子。所以对我来说，这是显而易见的，”雷米说。“我们只有一个目标我们只有一个目标，那就是改善孩子们的生活。这意味着让他们活着。”

Pediatric COVID-19 case rates, hospitalizations 'on fire' amid nation's latest surge

With coronavirus cases in the U.S. approaching near-peak levels recorded last winter, pediatric coronavirus infection and hospitalization levels are now surging to their highest point in months.

Last week, nearly 200,000 American children tested positive for COVID-19, up by about 50% since the beginning of December, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association. Hospitalizations among children have been rapidly following suit.

Across the country, more than 2,100 children are currently hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 -- up by approximately 800 pediatric patients, compared to just a month ago, according to federal data.

As a growing number of COVID-19 positive children are admitted into the hospital in need of care, health care workers and experts are sounding the alarm about the concerning trend.

"Our most precious commodity in this United States of America is our children," Dr. Kenneth Remy, associate professor of internal medicine and pediatrics critical care with UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, told ABC News. "And right now, we're on fire."

Daily pediatric COVID-19 related hospital admissions have more than doubled in the last month, increasing by 110%. Now, an average of more than 300 children are being admitted to the hospital each day.

According to the health experts, a confluence of factors have led to the surge. The initial catalyst was the delta variant, subsequently followed by the recently discovered omicron variant. Further, vaccination rates, particularly among the pediatric population, continue to lag, leaving many children vulnerable to severe illness.

To date, less than a third of eligible children -- ages 5 to 17 -- have been fully vaccinated.

6 states report more than 100 children hospitalized with COVID-19

At the state level, more children are hospitalized with COVID-19 in New York than in any other state in the country, particularly in New York City, where children appear to be bearing the brunt of the state's latest surge in pediatric cases.

In less than three weeks, New York City has seen a five-fold increase since the week of Dec. 5, Mary Bassett, the state health commissioner, reported during an update with Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday.

"There's just no reason. We have the supply. We have the capacity. We have the staff in place for every child to be vaccinated, who is eligible," Hochul said, urging parents to use the winter break as a time to vaccinate their children.

Six states – Georgia, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas – currently have more than 100 children hospitalized with COVID-19.

In Pennsylvania, the PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia warned last week that it has seen a "sharp increase in test positivity" among children it has tested in the area.

"These data support the fact that transmission is now increasing disproportionately among children compared to adults," the group wrote. "We are seeing cases of moderate to severe disease among hospitalized children, including otherwise healthy children, particularly those who have not been vaccinated."

In Ohio, where more than 200 children are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, Dr. Adam Mezoff, chief medical officer at Dayton Children's Hospital, told ABC News that he has been concerned to see the recent increase in infected children.

"It seems to be hitting younger age groups, at this time," Mezoff said, adding that he expects to see more hospitalizations to follow, given the infectivity of omicron. "How sick they become is hard to estimate right now, because we don't have enough information."

Preliminary data from South Africa estimates that children had a 20% higher risk of hospitalization in the country's omicron-driven fourth wave, given the fact that so many children were still unvaccinated, and therefore, unprotected.

"We have to keep an eye on that," Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday. "That's one of the reasons why we say now that we have the capability and the authority to vaccinate children 5 to 11, that we're encouraging parents, that if you have a child from 5 to 11, please get that child vaccinated to prevent them from getting anything that even resembles a serious illness."

Although severe illness due to COVID-19 remains "uncommon" among children, according to the AAP and CHA, experts stress that young people are not immune from the virus, or from severe illness and death.

According to the CDC, children are as likely to be infected with COVID-19 as adults and the virus is now one of the top 10 causes of death for children ages 5 through 11 years.

In Northeast Ohio, Remy said that what is happening in his hospital "is a reflection" of what is happening in the rest of the country for children, further rebutting the misconception that children are unaffected by COVID-19.

"What we've seen over the past couple of weeks, sadly, is not even just a slow increase, but a direct shoot upward [trend] of children becoming ill from this disease, and coming into the ICU," Remy said. "Sadly, we've seen children at our institution and others, lose their lives. So we're in a different situation than we were many months ago."

Mezoff said he worries that there will be a lot of sick children, and he is also deeply concerned that there will not be enough staff to take care of them.

"The combination of large numbers of children that are sick with challenging staffing numbers does raise a lot of concern for us," Mezoff said.

Remy added that he and his colleagues fear that more people, including children, will be coming into the hospital in the next few weeks into the intensive care units.

"We're not just arcing upward. We are going straight upward," Remy said. "And suddenly over the next couple of weeks, this is going to get worse, and so sadly, too many people are going to lose their lives."

'This is a no brainer'

As the virus continues to spread, experts stress that vaccination remains the best tool to not only protect children from getting sick, but also to change the trajectory of the pandemic.

"If I knew that there was a fire outside my house, I would make sure that I had extinguishers. I would make sure that I had a way out and an escape plan for my children," said Remy, using, once more, his blaze metaphor to explain the current crisis of the unfolding pandemic. "Right now … being on fire, we have something that could actually quench much of those flames."

Mezoff noted that as of yet, Dayton's Children's Hospital has yet to care for a COVID-19 positive child who has been vaccinated.

Getting boosted when eligible and wearing masks also remain key to protect those who are still too young to be vaccinated, Remy said.

"We know that these things will quell those flames and protect our children. So to me, this is a no brainer," Remy said. "We only have one goal we've only had one goal and that's to improve the lives of children. That means keeping them alive."