78% of This Group Were Hospitalized with Covid-19, Finds New Study

With measles and multiple other viruses making headlines for climbing infection rates, it’s almost easy to forget what a worry Covid-19 was starting exactly five years ago (though expert doctors warn that measles is significantly more contagious). Covid’s not as pervasive a threat it once was, but recent national data has stated 5,694 U.S. deaths in 2025 have been connected to Covid so far.

Just as measles takes precedent as a rapidly spreading concern with six U.S. states reporting cases as of Friday, new coronavirus research has taken a closer examination at how patients in one particular age group were impacted by Covid during the first two years of the pandemic.

In the peer-reviewed journal Respiratory Care, a January 2025 study analyzed data on children’s hospitalizations for Covid-19 infections that occurred between March 2020 and November 2021. The study was conducted by a team of pediatric clinicians and respiratory specialists with affiliations to the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Arkansas Children’s Research Institute, and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

The study reviewed 784 hospital admissions for children, 400 of which were categorized as “early pandemic” and 378 categorized as “during the delta period.” (There is a differential of six patients not clearly addressed in the study’s abstract.) A 2023 study put out by the CDC says the Delta variant peaked globally from June to November 2021, with many countries recording higher confirmed Covid case numbers during that span.

Out of the 784 pediatric Covid hospital admission cases that were studied, 44% of the patients had an underlying medical condition. Meanwhile, 78% of the cases included were of children who were not eligible for the Covid vaccine at that time.

The Covid vaccine was first authorized in the U.S. for children ages 12 through 15 years in May 2021, then children ages 5 through 11 in October 2021, and finally children as young as six months in June 2022.

The study notes that the beginning stages of the pandemic showed adults were much more likely than children to experience severe illness related to Covid. However, as “the pandemic progressed and variants emerged,” the number of children hospitalized for Covid increased.

In addition, “previously healthy children developed multisystem inflammatory disorder,” the researchers remarked. Multisystem inflammatory disorder is described by the CDC as a “rare but serious” condition that leads to inflammation in various internal or external body parts in connection with Covid.

The researchers also concluded that the length of hospital stays increased during the Delta variant, as well as the need for oxygen as a “respiratory support modality,” especially for children with preexisting conditions.

The CDC is currently recommending anyone ages 6 months or older who has not already gotten the 2024-2025 Covid vaccine to get vaccinated, even if you have already received previous Covid vaccines. And if the recent trends around measles don’t speak for themselves, read up on all the vaccines that national medical experts advise your child should have.

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