How do hospitalization rates for flu and COVID-19 in children compare?
- Flu and COVID-19 can both be serious in children, leading to hospitalization and even death.
- During the last “real” flu season, the 2019-2020 season that started before COVID-19 came on the scene, 1 in every 140 children 0-4 years old who had the flu went to the hospital for care.
- For children 5-11 years old, hospitalizations for flu and COVID-19 are similar. When comparing prior flu seasons to the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitalizations for COVID-19 in this age range were actually lower than the 2019-2020 flu season. In this graph,
47 kids ages 0-4 died and 139 kids ages 5-17 died.