MALCOLM: Let’s look at the actual numbers about kids and COVID

Now that the next vaccine push will be targeting children aged 5-11, let’s look at the actual numbers for that age group.

The following figures come from Health Canada’s comprehensive database on COVID-19. Dating back to early 2020, there have now been a total of 1.68 million cases and 28,838 deaths.

(According to Alberta’s chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw, COVID deaths include cases where COVID was thought to be the primary or secondary factor contributing to death. According to a Stats Canada report , 90% of COVID deaths list a secondary cause on the death certificate, most commonly Alzheimer’s, chronic heart disease or dementia.)

Of the 1.68 million COVID cases to date, the most infected age group are those under the age of 20. There have been approximately 350,000 cases in this age cohort, making up 21% of all cases.

Only 2% of those hospitalized for COVID-19 are among those under 20. Compare this to my age bracket (30-39) with 7.5% hospitalization, my mother’s age bracket (60-69) with 17.7% hospitalization, or my grandmother’s age bracket (80+) with 25% hospitalization.

Of the 350,000 cases for Canadians under 20, only 1,824 have been hospitalized. We also know that a significant number of these were incidental hospitalizations — meaning that they went to hospital because they were suffering from something completely unrelated but happened to test positive for the virus during routine screening.

So despite having the most exposure to COVID, young Canadians are not suffering the same health outcomes as older populations.