Should I keep my kid home from school? What to know about youth COVID in Sacramento

More young children are being admitted with illnesses related to COVID-19 during the omicron surge, Dr. Dean Blumberg, UC Davis Children’s Hospital chief of pediatrics infectious diseases, told The Bee.

“Before we were seeing hospitalizations in mostly teenagers ... this time around we’re seeing admissions more in the younger children — especially those less than 5 years of age,” he said.

Earlier this month, The Bee reported hundreds of public school students in Sacramento County had tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days. Then an elementary school in Yuba City shutdown and Lake Tahoe Unified School District closed all eight of its campuses last week because of the surge.

Blumberg said earlier in the pandemic health officials were focused on those 65 and older and people with underlying health conditions — but children weren’t prioritized.

“I think what’s been missed since then is that doesn’t mean that younger individuals or previously healthy individuals can’t get sick or that they can’t have severe illness,” he said.

Here’s what to know about cases and vaccination rates in California, plus when to keep your child home from school during the surge:

COVID cases and vaccination rate for California kids

In California, those ages 17 and under account for 17.2% of confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Monday. The age group makes up 22.5% of the population, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Children are also behind other age groups in COVID-19 vaccinations.

“What we’re seeing specifically with children is that the vaccination rates have lagged behind adults and that’s partly because the recommendations for childhood vaccination are more recent,” Blumberg said.

More than three months after the FDA approved emergency use of the vaccine for the age group, just over 20% of those ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated statewide, the lowest vaccination percentage of the age groups. People 12 to 17 are about 63% vaccinated — the second lowest percentage of the age groups.

In Sacramento County, roughly 21% of those ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated and those 12 to 17 are just under 60%.

Parents with children under 5 years old still haven’t gotten the green light.

When should I keep my child home from school?

Students should not attend in-person learning if they or their caregiver identified any of these symptoms:

• Temperature of 100.4 degrees or higher.

• A sore throat.

• A cough (for students with chronic cough due to allergies or asthma, a change in their cough from baseline).

• Have difficulty breathing (for students with asthma, a change from their baseline breathing).

• Diarrhea or vomiting.

• New onset of severe headache, especially with a fever.

If your child has any of the listed symptoms, keep them home from school, get them tested for COVID-19 and contact their school to report the illness.

Children should also stay home form school and be tested for COVID-19 if:

• They have been in close contact with someone with COVID-19.

• They have taken part in activities that puts them at higher risk for COVID-19.

• They were asked or referred to get tested by a health official.

When to go to the hospital

According to the Centers for Disease and Control, seek emergency medical attention immediately if you or your child:

• Have trouble breathing

• Have persistent pain or pressure in your chest

• Experience new confusion

• Cannot stay awake

• Become pale, gray, blue in the skin, lips or nail beds.

This is not a full list of possible symptoms. Please call your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning to you.

Before seeking medical attention, call 911 or call ahead to your local emergency facility to notify the operator that you are seeking care for yourself or someone with COVID-19 symptoms.

State and local COVID cases

California’s positivity rate was 21.5% as of Monday, according to the state’s COVID-19 data.

California confirmed a total of more than 6.7 million COVID-19 cases and roughly 77,000 deaths since the pandemic began.

The state has a daily average of more than 110,000 cases and 44 deaths.

Sacramento County’s positivity rate is 24.4% as of Monday.

The county confirmed a total of more than 218,000 cases — an increase of more than 10,000 from one day ago — and about 2,400 deaths since the pandemic began.

Variants in California

As of Jan. 5, omicron was the dominant variant at 91.3%. Delta was at 6.5%.

The last time delta was the dominant variant was Dec. 20, at roughly 60%. Omicron was at about 40%.

Here’s a breakdown of the variants in California spanning the last six months, with data collected through Jan. 5 and last updated Thursday:

What do you want to know about life in Sacramento? Ask our California Utility Team your top-of-mind questions in the module below or email utilityteam@sacbee.com.