[Corona Behind] "Confirmed child leaves work alone"

※ 'Corona Behind' is a report by Park Soo-jin, a reporter from the Life and Culture Department of SBS Press Headquarters, who is running at the forefront of COVID-19 coverage.

Once a week, reporters Park's articles and thoughts that were not included in the article are released to readers.

[Editor's Note]

'My eldest daughter is confirmed, what should the other family do?

I 'm afraid I'll get the second one.'

'My child doesn't have a fever, but he doesn't answer the pediatrician's calls.

Can I go to the emergency room?'

'Can I feed the antipyretic at home first?'

Last week, I heard the news several times a day from acquaintances that my child was confirmed.

As I am in charge of covering the corona virus, it is not uncommon for family members to receive questions from acquaintances and colleagues who have been confirmed.

For several weeks, I was careful to 'eat alone' for my daughter's elementary school entrance ceremony, but it was also sad to hear the complaint of a friend who was confirmed with her daughter the day before.

When a child is sick, it is the heart of a parent to stop fighting.

This is especially true for parents with young children and young children.

In fact, the number of children infected has increased significantly in recent years.

The number of confirmed patients aged 0-9 years old was 9,712 as of the fourth week of January (January 23-29), but a month later, in the fourth week of February (February 20-26), the number increased 14 times to 135,128.

In terms of the incidence rate per 100,000 people, 12,701 cases (as of March 4) are the highest among all age groups, and it greatly exceeds the incidence rate of 7,665 cases based on the total population.

Two months ago, it was 1,377 (as of January 5).

At that time, the total population-based incidence rate was 1,239.

“Why are there so many cases of children all of a sudden?”

I have been getting a lot of questions like this, but due to the rapid spread of Omicron, the total number of confirmed cases has increased significantly regardless of age, and it is said that the corona symptoms centering on fever are more pronounced in pediatric patients who have a stronger immune response than adults. This is the explanation of the pediatricians.

Infants and children are not eligible for the corona vaccine and do not have antibodies from the vaccine.

Although the chance of becoming severe is not high, children may experience symptoms such as fever, weakness, and loss of appetite for several days as they struggle with the coronavirus.

In most cases, fever goes down within a day or two if you take antipyretic drugs, but experts explain,

, experts explain do.

The most common early symptom is 'fever', as mentioned earlier.

It is important to monitor whether the fever persists even after taking antipyretics.

There are two types of antipyretic drugs. The antipyretic drug 'ibuprofen', commonly called 'buprofen', quickly lowers the fever, but the effect does not last long, so the fever may rise again.

An acetaminophen-based antipyretic drug such as 'Tylenol' does not immediately reduce fever, but has the effect of slowing it down little by little.

“I am prescribing two types of antipyretics by adjusting the dosage. If you control the fever well for a day or so, in the case of children, the body will take care of it the next time. I feed it 3 times at 8-hour intervals, and if the fever does not fall below 38 degrees, I will explain to you to feed only a few cc of ibuprofen. It is also important to feed the medicine according to the prescription."

(Lee Jong-won, Specialist in Pediatrics)

Fortunately, the number of hospitals that can treat pediatric patients with Corona is gradually increasing as they have gone through a transition period of 'home treatment' for the past month.

As of the last 4 days, there are 28 specialized pediatric base hospitals that are capable of both outpatient and hospitalization for pediatric patients, and 44 outpatient treatment centers that only provide face-to-face treatment.

According to the government, there are currently 100 medical counseling centers that provide 24-hour non-face-to-face medical consultation.

(Click) ▶List of pediatric base hospitals and hospitals that can provide face-to-face treatment 

Explosive number of confirmed children + change of quarantine guidelines = care gap (?)

After the fact that a child is sick, the biggest difficulty parents face is 'care'.

With the sharp increase in the number of pediatric patients and the start of school, more and more parents are stumbling upon the two tasks of 'commuting to work' and 'caring for children'.

If there are no confirmed cases, family members living together are also not required to isolate, and the problem is deeper when the child is positive but the parent is negative.

You may be able to take time off or work from home, but this is not the case for everyone.

"On the weekend before school starts, the child has been whining since the night before. I thought he was sleeping, but the next morning I took a fever and it was 38.5 degrees, which was confirmed. But my husband and I came out negative. We are a teacher couple. In particular, the 'first week of school' is the most important and busy time for teachers. Especially these days, there are a lot of confirmed teachers, but it is difficult to find a part-time instructor, so school operation is not easy. I know the situation clearly, but I have to go to work. I left the child at home alone and went to work.”

(Teacher A with a 9-year-old child confirmed)

Mr. A and his wife had a crazy week.

At lunchtime after the morning class, they took turns coming home, preparing lunch for the children, and returning to school. When the afternoon class was over, they asked for permission from the school and left early.

However, there were days when I had to leave the child alone until late in the afternoon because there was no such 'alternative'.

Mr. A said:

"There was no way. There was no place to put it, and there was no way to ask the parents to take care of a child with Corona. I thought it would be better to get it together."

Mr. B, an office worker, had a dizzying experience when his child was confirmed and his fever rose to 41 degrees. was in a difficult situation as her parents, who were in charge of child rearing on her behalf, were also confirmed.

On behalf of his dual-income couple, his daughter and his wife took care of the child while going home. Eventually, the child was confirmed, and a few days later, the parents were also confirmed.

"I can't even ask the confirmed parents to look after the child together. The situation became like this, and I couldn't not see the child. Fortunately, the company took care of me, so I worked from home, but working from home like this. There are a lot of people who are having a hard time. I think it’s difficult.”

(Mr. B, with an 8-year-old child and his parents confirmed)

There really is no nifty solution to this care gap.

Actively encouraging childcare leave or telecommuting at work is currently best, as in many cases this is not possible depending on the nature of the company, job, or type of employment.

As the number of confirmed cases is rapidly increasing, the number of institutions and workplaces experiencing difficulties in their work continues to increase, and some essential institutions such as hospitals are even taking measures to reduce the quarantine period of confirmed patients. is going to be difficult.

Can childhood vaccination be a solution?

asked the parents

As the number of confirmed cases under the age of 9 who are not subject to the corona vaccine has increased significantly, the need to vaccinate children has risen again.

On the 23rd of last month, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved the use of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine for children aged 5-11.

This is the result after two months since Pfizer Korea applied for a preliminary review to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in early December last year.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety was also concerned about the approval of the vaccine for pediatric vaccination as there was a social controversy over vaccination for adolescents over 12 years of age.

The Pfizer vaccine, approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, is already being vaccinated in 62 countries, including the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, for children aged 5-11.

It is the same type of vaccine as licensed for children 12 years of age and older, but at one-third the dose and is administered twice, 3 weeks apart.

In clinical trials, the preventive effect was more than 90%.

After inoculation, there were mild symptoms such as pain, redness, and fatigue at the injection site, but no serious adverse reactions such as myocarditis were found, according to experts who reviewed the clinical results.

It has been approved for use, but no specific vaccination plan has been set yet.

Some media outlets point out that the Omicron epidemic is now peaking and spreading, but this plan is too late.

However, when I asked the parents of young children, public opinion in the field was a little different.

Although there are concerns about the spread of infection in kindergartens and schools, there were more hesitation or negative reactions than parents who readily answered that they would get the vaccine.

"Just because you got the vaccine doesn't mean you won't get coronavirus. Just because you got it doesn't mean it's effective."

(Parents of 10-year-old children)

"It's half and half. Actually. I don't know if vaccine safety is guaranteed, but it's a case-by-case thing."

(Parents of 8-year-olds)

"I think we have to give them a choice. They're still too young. They don't have the immune system in place yet."

(Parents of 7-year-old children)

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) is expected to announce a vaccination plan for ages 5-11 within this month.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and some pediatric experts said, 'Priority vaccination is necessary for children living with patients with underlying diseases or high-risk groups. This is because even children in the city can become seriously ill, hospitalized, and even die” (Kwon Geun-yong, head of the vaccination management team at the Vaccination Response Promotion Division) explains.

However, according to the results of the ‘Expert Agreement on Vaccination of Korean Adolescents to Corona 19’ published by Professor Young-Jun Choi’s research team at Korea University Anam Hospital in the Journal of the Korean Medical Association (JKMS), 18 members of the Korean Vaccination Advisory Committee and members of the Infectious Diseases Committee of the Korean Academy of Pediatrics As a result of two anonymous surveys of 43 people including 9 people and 8 advisors from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, it was found that although the corona vaccine is effective for children and adolescents, concerns about long-term stability should not be overlooked.

Some experts say that the expected effect of vaccination is not large compared to the potential risk.

It remains to be seen what options the government can give to parents who are concerned about their children's confirmation and are having difficulties in caring for them, but are hesitant about getting a vaccine.

(Reporter: Park Soo-jin, PD: Kim Do-kyun, Illustration: Kim Jeong-yeon, Producer: D Content Planning Department)