Health Department Issues Scary Kids-In-COVID-Ward Headlines From Elsewhere; Just 12 In Hospital Here

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services issued a recent press release citing newspaper headlines from other states about sick children who couldn’t get into overflowing hospitals.

These included mainstream media headlines that stated, “Sick kids running out of room at Omaha-area hospitals as start of school, COVID loom” and “Baton Rouge: Kids sick with Covid are filling up children’s hospitals in areas seeing spikes.”

Health department officials put a bar graph in the Michigan release that stated, “Children can get infected with SARS-CoV-2: Proportion of kids getting sick with COVID-19 is increasing.”

The Michigan press release cited some data that was current as of Aug. 16, but not the number of children who were in Michigan hospitals that day for COVID.

There were 12 children in Michigan hospitals with COVID-19 cases. The number is from a mostly comprehensive survey of confirmed COVID-19 hospital admissions in Michigan, including pediatric cases.