"I don't think anybody wants to see their own kid struggling to breathe and having to be hospitalized," Anne O'Keefe says

OMAHA, Neb. —
The Douglas County Health Department's senior epidemiologist Anne O'Keefe said omicron and its subvariants are infecting youth more as the health department just reported its highest number of pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations at 28.

"Is it alarming to see that number go up," KETV reporter Waverle Monroe asked O'Keefe.

"It is. I don't think anybody wants to see their own kid struggling to breathe and having to be hospitalized," she responded.

O'Keefe said more COVID-19 cases mean more chances for children to get omicron.

"It affects different parts of your lungs. It's not as low in your lungs it's higher in the airways. Young kids have smaller airways so it's going to affect them a little bit differently than adults," she said.

Pediatric COVID-19 cases are leading to other illnesses.

"Since the beginning of the pandemic we've had 100 kids at Children's that have been diagnosed with (multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children) and that is very scary and many of those kids need ICU care," she said.

O'Keefe said the newest variant, known scientifically as BA.2, could impact kids just as much.

"It has changed a little bit so we can detect it. We don't know how different it is from omicron but it seems to be the same," she said.

What does that mean for the youngest children who are not yet eligible for the vaccine? O'Keefe said the best way to keep them COVID-free is to get the shot yourself.

"Kids' immune systems are different. They have different doses to figure out," she said.

Vaccine trials are going on for youth five and under, though O'Keefe said it's too soon to tell when those will get approved.