With children heading back to school following spring break vacations and some still unable to get vaccinated against COVID-19, many parents are wondering what symptoms they should be aware of in kids.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children have similar symptoms to adults, and in many cases experience milder illness.
"While children are as likely to get COVID-19 as adults, kids are less likely to become severely ill," the Mayo Clinic reports. "Up to 50% of children and adolescents might have COVID-19 with no symptoms. However, some children with COVID-19 need to be hospitalized, treated in the intensive care unit or placed on a ventilator to help them breathe."
Hospitalizations of children were on the rise during the omicron surge that swept the nation earlier this year. In December and January, some Chicago hospitals reported their highest rates since the pandemic began, with even more than the previous delta surge.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here.
Many of those hospitalized, however, did not require intensive care and were unvaccinated or too young to be vaccinated.
In addition, Mayo Clinic says babies under the age of 1 might be at higher risk of severe illness with COVID-19 than older children.
The symptoms present in children, like adults, can vary from several to none at all.
The most common symptoms in kids are cough and a fever, according to Mayor Clinic. Possible symptoms include:
- Fever
- Cough that becomes productive
- Chest pain
- New loss of taste or smell
- Changes in the skin, such as discolored areas on the feet and hands
- Sore throat
- Nausea, vomiting, belly pain or diarrhea
- Chills
- Muscle aches and pain
- Extreme fatigue
- New severe headache
- New nasal congestion
For some children, COVID-19 is only the beginning as some have been diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome following their infections.
"Evidence indicates that many of these children were infected with the COVID-19 virus in the past, as shown by positive antibody test results, suggesting that MIS-C is caused by an excessive immune response related to COVID-19," the Mayo Clinic reported.
MIS-C severely inflames certain organs and tissues, including the heart, lungs, blood vessels, kidneys, digestive system, brain, skin or eyes.
Possible symptoms of this condition include:
- Fever that lasts 24 hours or longer
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Pain in the stomach
- Skin rash
- Fast heartbeat
- Rapid breathing
- Red eyes
- Redness or swelling of the lips and tongue
- Feeling unusually tired
- Redness or swelling of the hands or feet
- Headache, dizziness or lightheadedness
- Enlarged lymph nodes
Emergency warning signs of MIS-C include:
- Inability to wake up or stay awake
- Difficulty breathing
- New confusion
- Pale, gray or blue-colored skin, lips or nail beds — depending on skin tone
- Severe stomach pain
As for so-called "long-hauler COVID" or "long COVID," some children could also develop longer-lasting symptoms.
According to the CDC, the condition appears less likely in children and adolescents, but some cases have been reported.
"The most common symptoms reported have been tiredness or fatigue, headache, trouble sleeping (insomnia), trouble concentrating, muscle and joint pain, and cough," the CDC reports.
Currently, children ages 5 and older are eligible to receive Pfizer's COVID vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine is currently the only treatment authorized in the US for children between the ages of 5 and 17.
Pfizer said in February that it was postponing its rolling application to the FDA to expand the use of its vaccine for kids under 5 after it found that two doses of its shot didn’t generate a strong enough immune response in kids ages 2 to 4.
Previous data showed two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine offer almost no protection against coronavirus infection in kids ages 5 to 11, but did offer protection against serious illness.
The Pfizer shots still offered protection against serious illness from COVID, the researchers found, with protection against hospitalization declining to 48 percent from 100 percent over the same time period.
In much welcome news for some parents, Moderna last month said its COVID-19 vaccine generated a strong immune response and was generally well-tolerated in kids ages 6 months up to 6 years.
The company said it planned to submit a request for authorization to the Food and Drug Administration in the "coming weeks."
