As COVID cases among children spike throughout the country, Los Angeles County reported on Wednesday that a 1-year-old has died of COVID.
In that report, LA County also mentioned the 91 overall COVID deaths, making it the second-highest daily total of deaths during the Omicron rise. The 1-year-old was among the 91 deaths, and it is unknown if the child had any underlying conditions.
Nearly 1,151,000 child cases were reported over the last week according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Just last week, an infant died of COVID in the southwest area of Riverside County in California and became the youngest person in the county to die from the virus.
According to a new study released last week, the Omicron variant is causing less severe symptoms in young children than the Delta variant. Data on nearly 80,000 first time infections in U.S. children under the age of 5 shows that the Omicron surge had a 29% lower risk of emergency room visits, a 67 percent lower risk of needing intensive care, and a 71 percent lower risk of needing a ventilator, in comparison to children infected with the Delta variant in 2021. However, as more children get infected with Omicron, those numbers could possibly become even with Delta.
Since more children are being infected, it can become likely that an increasing number of children will develop more serious symptoms even though they are usually milder in young kids. Infants under the age of 1 could be at higher risk of severe illness with COVID than older children because their immune systems are not yet fully developed, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The CDC remains to only suggest COVID vaccines for children over the age of 5.