96361
  • Log in
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Forum
  • Donate
  • Newsletter
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

Independent SAGE Graph in Viral Tweet Misleading: Omicron Is Mild in Children

by Noah Carl
26 January 2022 12:53 PM

In a recent viral tweet, the new German Health Minister, Professor Karl Lauterbach, shared what seems like an alarming graph:

It shows daily Covid hospital admissions in England for all children (i.e., those aged under 18) since the start of the pandemic. Lauterbach wrote:

The UK data shows alarming levels in children. Since Omicron can be warded off well by masks, mask requirements in school and regular testing are absolutely necessary.

Incidentally, the graph itself was produced by Independent SAGE – the group that’s like SAGE, only more pessimistic about Covid and more in favour of restrictions (and not an official Government advisory body).

So, what should we make of Lauterbach’s tweet? One of the stylised facts of the pandemic is that Covid poses almost no risk to children. Has this ceased to be true in the era of Omicron? No, fortunately it has not.

One reason that Covid hospital admissions for children shot up in late December is simple: infections shot up at around the same time (in the first week of January, more than 6% of the population tested positive). And when more people in the general population are infected, the number of people admitted to hospital with Covid will rise.

Under simple assumptions, if the percentage of the population that’s infected jumps from 1% to 6%, then so should the fraction of people admitted to hospital with Covid.

Another possible reason Covid hospital admissions for children shot up – suggested by Professor Russell Viner of UCL – is that Omicron has a greater impact in the upper airways, which are smaller in young children. And as others have noted, this feature also makes Omicron less deadly.

Yet another reason, notes the FT, is the introduction of treatment guidelines requiring babies who develop fever to be put under hospital observation.

Indeed, a new study from the U.S. confirms that Omicron is less deadly than Delta – even in young children. Lindsey Wang and colleagues compared two cohorts of under 5s: those who caught Covid for the first time during the Delta wave, and those who caught it for the first time during the Omicron wave.

The two cohorts were matched on a large number of relevant variables including age, sex, race and pre-existing health conditions. Results are shown below:

For all four outcome variables considered, the risk was significantly lower among those who caught Omicron. To take one example, only 0.14% of the Omicron cohort were admitted to the ICU, compared to 0.43% of the Delta cohort.

What’s more, as this graph from the FT shows, the recent uptick in paediatric hospital admissions for Covid isn’t large relative to seasonal peaks for other child respiratory viruses:

Returning to the German Health Minister’s tweet, the totality of evidence does not suggest that “mask requirements in school and regular testing are absolutely necessary”. In fact, I’d describe them as ‘absolutely unnecessary’.

Tags: HospitalisationsIndependent SAGEOmicron

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

Wales and Scotland Loosen Restrictions – But Very, Very Slowly

Next Post

Covid Infections in England Dropped Last Week, ONS Data Confirm

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

147 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

Nick Dixon and Toby Young Talk About the Davos Elites’ Prolific Use of Prostitutes, Clarkson’s Fightback and the Government’s Bizarre Plan to Ban Discouraging Teens From Becoming Trans

by Will Jones
24 January 2023
1

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editors Picks

The Billionaires Coming For Your Gas Boiler

28 January 2023
by Toby Young

News Round-Up

28 January 2023
by Toby Young

Pro-Mask Crusader Trish Greenhalgh Plumbs New Depths of Distortion

27 January 2023
by Dr Gary Sidley

Was Refusing the Vaccine Really Just a “Coin Flip?”

28 January 2023
by Nick Dixon

About That Project Veritas Scoop

28 January 2023
by Eugyppius

Was Refusing the Vaccine Really Just a “Coin Flip?”

45

In Praise of Boris Johnson’s Stance on Ukraine

43

Pro-Mask Crusader Trish Greenhalgh Plumbs New Depths of Distortion

46

News Round-Up

25

The Billionaires Coming For Your Gas Boiler

17

In Praise of Boris Johnson’s Stance on Ukraine

28 January 2023
by Noah Carl

MHRA Caught Not Doing Its Promised Vaccine Safety Monitoring (Again)

28 January 2023
by Nick Denim

Pro-Mask Crusader Trish Greenhalgh Plumbs New Depths of Distortion

27 January 2023
by Dr Gary Sidley

Lockdowns Responsible for Thousands of Alcohol Deaths – ONS

27 January 2023
by Dr Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson

Deaths Running 26% Above Pre-Pandemic Levels – and the Vaccines Remain a Leading Suspect

27 January 2023
by Will Jones

POSTS BY DATE

January 2022
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31  
« Dec   Feb »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Forum
  • Donate
  • Newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Please note: To be able to comment on our articles you'll need to be a registered donor

Already have an account?
Please click here to login Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment