Cases have been in decline in the state since mid-September. One fortnight ago,the daily figure was 787 infections. Two weeks earlier,it was 1127.
As vaccination rates rise,children not yet eligible for a shot continue to be the age group most likely to test positive. There were 107 cases in children aged nine and under among Monday’s 498 cases,consistent with the 791 seen among the 3864 cases recorded in the past week.
However,the proportion of children with the virus is more a function of rising vaccination coverage among older age groups,and infectious diseases experts have continued to stress COVID-19 in children is a mild illness.
“At Sydney Children’s Hospital,Randwick and Westmead,we are managing a lot of children in their home because their parents are much more ill than they are,” infectious diseases paediatrician Robert Booy said.
Professor Booy said that,while there was an urgent need for children with major medical problems and immunosuppressions to be vaccinated if eligible due to concerns about their severity of illness,it should be remembered that no child has died of COVID-19 in Australia
“COVID is highly transmissible through all age groups,and certainly young children have been a part of this outbreak,but this has not translated into hospitalisations,” said Associate Professor Sanjaya Senanayake,an infectious diseases physician and director of hospital in the home at Canberra Hospital.
“When it does,this is for more social reasons,because their parents are sick,rather than medical. The main concern is children transmitting to adults they live with at home.”
Cases have remained high in the Hunter-New England region,where a recent push for vaccinations led to one in 25 people in Lake Macquarie and one in 20 in Cessnock come forward for their first doses in the past week.
There were 82 new cases in the region on Monday,including 28 in Lake Macquarie,14 in Cessnock,10 in Tamworth and nine in Newcastle. A total of 574 cases have been reported in the region over the past week.
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Health authorities on the weekend said the spread of the virus in the area was mostly in people aged 25 and under and transmission had occurred at industrial worksites.
Hospitalisations in NSW have continued to decline slightly,dropping on Sunday below 800 cases for the first time since late August. There were 769 COVID-19 patients in hospital,including 153 in intensive care and 71 on ventilators.
Of the 153 in intensive care,109 were not vaccinated and 31 had only received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Eight deaths from COVID-19 were reported on Monday,including the sixth resident to die in an outbreak at the Allity Beechwood Aged Care Facility in Revesby,which has grown to 28 cases.
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