AURORA, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Doctors with Advocate Aurora Health are warning of a “dual pandemic crisis” as they’ve seen three times more children hospitalized with COVID in the last month while mental health problems have been rising.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Frank Belmonte said they’re caring for between 25-38 COVID patients on average at Advocate Children’s Hospitals.
"These are not kids that are coming in and have a broken bone and test positive for COVID. These are kids that are being hospitalized, because they have respritory symptoms from COVID."
He said about half of those patients are under the age of 5 and therefore unvaccinated. Dr. Laura Yahr Nelson said Aurora’s psychiatric hospital has been seeing depression, anxiety and more as well.
"We've had several cases of COVID-induced physchosis- a loss of touch of reality with neurological symptoms one to two months after COVID infection."
However, she said the current COVID surge in Wisconsin has not brought more psychiatric cases- giving her hope to minimize that challenge. Nelson and Belmonte continue to encourage vaccination and to keep children in school to limit isolation.
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