The Netherlands is experiencing a bizarre uptick in pneumonia cases among children, marking the second country to report an outbreak of this type this week.
The Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), a research institute in Utrecht, around 25 miles south of Amsterdam, reports that 80 of every 100,000 children between ages 5 and 14 came down with pneumonia last week.
This is the largest outbreak of pneumonia NIVEL has recorded in recent years. At the peak of the 2022 flu season, when pneumonia cases were most common, there were 60 recorded cases for every 100,000 children in the age group.
A news outlet in the Netherlands said neither NIVEL nor the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, the Dutch equivalent of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), could give an explanation as to why pneumonia cases were increasing.
Mysterious pneumonia cases in China have also begun to raise alarms. First reports emerged last week that children’s hospitals in Beijing and the province of Liaoning were overrun by children coming in with pneumonia.
Hmm - so China claims the uptick is just a result of the recent lift in COVID restrictions, as children weren’t exposed to a wide array of common illnesses.
The Netherlands, however, has had restrictions lifted far longer and is sharing the same uptick.
Other nations in similar conditions are not.
Seems the most likely there’s something new out there. Whether it’s COVID reaching it’s final form or something brand new is difficult to say.
Yeah, we’re not done with pandemics.
The economy is.
Honestly? Everything adjusted to lockdown pretty quick. I bet a round 2 wouldn’t be nearly as bad. We’ve already figured out how to do it
Tell that to the supply chains. Just because you’re able to do white collar work from home doesn’t mean the rest of the economy is as easily adjustable.
Hold on to your butts
TL;DR from the article and its sources.
China says its RSV and Flu. NIVEL in the Netherlands also sees an uptick, but they’re only tracking pneumonia cases, they’re not tracking if these are driven by RSV, Flu, COVID, or something else.
More information is needed, but the article is already jumping to speculation of China covering up a new virus.
(My 2¢: Given that this seems to be hitting kids hard, that would align with China’s RSV claims)
It’s just that people have zero trust in Chinese authorities after the last coverup
Oh no, not again.
It hurts so good, I don’t understand….
Infatuation.
I wonder if this is what my coworker has? He’s been sick the entire month of Nov, said it’s way worse than COVID ever was when he got that, and has been coughing so much he’s coughing blood sometimes. Multiple doctors haven’t been able to figure it out. Kind of scary!
I’m in the US and randomly came down with pneumonia on Thanksgiving. I’m sure it’s a coincidence, but I also caught COVID the first week of the pandemic so… shrug
My husband and I both got a fever yesterday, and we are still experiencing flu like symptoms. Not sure if it’s related. We had a COVID home test kit but it was negative.
