U.S. hospitalization of children aged 0-4 surge in Omicron wave: CDC

NEW YORK, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Children aged 0-4 in the latest Omicron wave in the United States were hospitalized at approximately five times the rate of the Delta wave, according to a recent study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

From Dec. 19, 2021 to Feb. 19, 2022 when the Omicron variant predominated, weekly COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates per 100,000 children aged 0-4, a group not yet eligible for vaccination, peaked at 14.5, which was approximately five times that during the Delta-predominated period from June to December in 2021, said the study based on data from 14 states.

The study also found that children of color wound up in hospitals at disproportionate rates. During the Omicron predominance, 34.1 percent, 27.5 percent and 23.1 percent of the children hospitalized were white, Hispanic and Black respectively, while Hispanic people represent just 18 percent of the population, and Black Americans make up 13 percent, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The newspaper cited experts as saying that "children of color are infected at higher rates because they are more likely to have parents who work in public-facing jobs, and more likely to live in poverty and in multigenerational households."