WATCH: Local Pediatric Hospitalist joins Ozarks Today to discuss rising Covid-19 cases

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - As of last week nine states, including Missouri, reported a record number of kids being hospitalized with COVID-19.

Dr. Kofi Asare-Bawuah is a Pediatric Hospitalist with CoxHealth.

“So for the year we’ve tested over 1600 patients and about 451 has been positive, which is a rate of about 27%, which is three times the read for December 2021,” said Dr. Asare-Bawuah. “In terms of those who ended up in a hospital, for December we had 18 and up to this morning, we have 12 now. So we are almost two-thirds of the way to we had for December.”

Dr. Asare-Bawuah says they are fortunate for one trend among children suffering from COVID-19.

“So we had we’ve not had any child on a ventilator,” said Dr. Asare-Bawuah. “We’ve had some very close with a requirement of a non-invasive treatment we call high flow nasal cannula, OSC five, which is a non-invasive form of ventilation. So that’s, that’s what we do before they get intubated. But thankfully, we’ve not had any patients require intubation so far.”

Vaccination and booster opportunities are available across the community for kids above the age of 5. You can schedule an appointment and find more vaccine opportunities at Vaccine417.com or by calling the COVID-19 Call Center at 417-874-1211.

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