Packed Hospitals
Colorado Governor Jared Polis said this month that cases among residents over 50 are leveling off, which he attributed to a strong turnout for vaccinations. He said the biggest increase in cases is among adults younger than middle age.
“People are filling up hospitals in the 18-to-50 age group,” he said. “This is a race against the clock.”
Polis said the new variants are increasing the likelihood of severe reactions. Most younger people infected will survive, but are more likely to end up in the hospital, he said, imploring residents to continue wearing masks and practicing social distancing as the inoculation campaign nears its goal.
“Let’s be careful in the final weeks,” Polis said. “We’re almost back to normal. It’s almost mid- to late-May, where everyone who wants a vaccine can get it. Let’s not have a setback.”
The next problem may be cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, in which multiple organs become inflamed. MIS-C, as it’s called, afflicts some Covid survivors with lingering symptoms such as high heart rates, body aches and fatigue.
Though the syndrome is rare—Michigan has about 100 cases—hospitals likely will see more of it after the variant-driven surge, because it trails Covid by two to five weeks, said Valentini, of Children’s Hospital in Detroit.
Katie Krol of Shelby Township, Michigan, said her two children have been struggling with MIS-C. Her daughter, Emma, now 10, and 14-year-old son, Rhys, saw their conditions worsen about two months after initially getting Covid in March 2020. Their heart rates sometimes spike above 140. Both are often exhausted and have circulatory problems.
Rhys’s “hands and feet will turn purple,” Krol said in an interview. “You can trace their veins. They are darker. If Rhys is up for longer than 15 minutes, he says he feels like his feet are swelling.”
Doctors have found no cure.
“They don’t know,” Krol said. “They are saying in six months or in 12 months, they will be better. There is no answer for this. I wish it was something where there was an answer and we could just get treated.”
Valentini said hospital officials are heartened by the fact that Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine is showing strong results with 12- to 15-year-olds. But the drugmaker is waiting for the Food and Drug Administration to approve its use for that age group. Moderna Inc. in February started a study for patients as young as 12.
Until children can get the vaccine, they will be susceptible. “Corona is looking for a place to land,” Valentini said. “The patients who are most vulnerable are children because they haven’t been vaccinated.”
Zajacz, the Cleveland mother, said that a medical scan Thursday revealed that Spencer’s spleen is enlarged, and she plans to try to have him admitted to a special clinic for patients with longstanding Covid symptoms.
“We don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel with this,” she said. “The answer they all have is that we just have to let it run its course.”
—With assistance from Shruti Date Singh, Vincent Del Giudice and Stacie Sherman.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.