Prognosis

Covid Once Spared the Young. Now More Are Going to the Hospital

  • ‘Some require mechanical ventilation’ at one Detroit facility
  • Variants sicken age group that showed few symptoms previously
Students wait 15 minutes after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine at a university site to make sure they do not have any adverse reactions.Photographer: Stephen Zenner/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
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The pediatrician told Melissa Zajacz of Medina, Ohio, that her 13-year-old son, Spencer, would be back to school in two weeks after he was diagnosed with Covid-19. Then came more trips to the doctor, fevers over 104 degrees and two visits to the Cleveland Clinic emergency room.

Spencer’s case, involving the B.1.1.7. variant, has kept him mostly bedridden and suffering headaches and swollen ankles since March 17. “There is no cure, so they offer support care,” said Melissa Zajacz. “He hasn’t been to school in a month. He’s a healthy, athletic kid, and he’s miserable.”