Some young Covid patients hospitalized for observation

Some of the young people currently in hospital with a coronavirus infection were admitted "for observation," Jaap van Dissel, director of public health institute RIVM, said in a briefing to parliament. Earlier this week, it was announced that hospitals were treating a striking number of Covid-19 patients under the age of 30.

The National Coordination Center for Patient Distribution (LCPS) reported the increase on Monday but could not explain why at the time.

During a presentation to MPs on Wednesday, Van Dissel sowed a graph with the number of hospital admissions divided over age groups. There was an increase in admissions in the age group 0 to 9 years. According to Van Dissel, in practice, this concerns "very young people who are admitted for observation because they want to be as careful as possible." He pointed out that the absolute numbers of admissions in this age group are still "very low." The increase is also not reflected in intensive care units.

Van Dissel further attributed the increased admissions of younger people to an increase in coronavirus infections in those age groups. The number of coronavirus cases increased sharply over the past weeks, especially in school-age children. According to Van Dissel, an estimated 1 in 10 to 1 in 15 school children is currently positive. The reasoning is that if there are many infections in a particular age group, more people from that age group will also end up in the hospital.