Dr. Scott Gottlieb pointed on Friday to the extremely transmissible Covid-19 variations as a prospective cause behind a boost in teenagers being hospitalized with the infection in March and April.Â
“It’s concerning, the trends on hospitalizations” amongst teens, stated Gottlieb, the previous Food and Drug Administration chief throughout the Trump administration. “I think it’s a reflection of the new, more contagious variants.”
“We are seeing that these variants are more contagious across all age groups, so they’re affecting adults more, but they’re also affecting kids more, so you’re seeing more kids contract symptomatic Covid and more kids get hospitalized, as a consequence of that, particularly B. 117,” Gottlieb informed CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith.” Â
The B. 117 variation is presently the most common pressure in the U.S., with 20,915 reported cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the very first 3 months of the year, CDC scientists discovered that almost one-third of teenagers hospitalized with Covid needed admission into an extensive care system. Meanwhile, 5% required intrusive mechanical ventilation. To make sure, CDC information reveals no teens in the U.S. passed away of Covid in the very first quarter of 2021.
CDC director Rochelle Walensky on Friday prompted moms and dads to immunize their teens versus Covid, pointing out more teens being hospitalized with Covid.
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC factor and belongs to the boards of Pfizer, hereditary screening start-up Tempus, health-care tech business Aetion Inc. and biotech business Illumina.
