There appears to be an increase in the number of children admitted to emergency rooms with severe COVID-19 symptoms - some have reported the highest number of visits since the pandemic began years ago.

In the past two weeks across the province, 89 children have been hospitalized. The recent rise in child-related infections is coming in Ontario. Meanwhile, another Canadian province, Quebec, has reinstated mask mandates. This is leading to growing calls for the Ford government to do the same.

Emergency physician in Toronto, Dr. Brett Belshitz, said, "We are seeing children with high fevers, children finding breathing painful, and some children needing oxygen supplements."

Many emergency departments across the GTA are experiencing a steady flow of primarily unvaccinated young children with COVID-like symptoms.

Currently, there is no COVID-19 vaccination for those under the age of five.

Dr. Steve Flindall, an emergency doctor in York Region, believes that the removal of masks in indoor settings in Ontario - including schools - is leading to easier transmission of COVID-19 among younger children.

Flindall said: "Schools are back in person." "We've seen a spike since mask mandates were dropped, it was really a huge increase."

McMaster Children's Hospital in Hamilton stated that more than 1,600 children with COVID-19 concerns visited emergency rooms in the first two months of 2022. The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) is so overwhelmed that there is a warning message on its website stating there is immense pressure on the hospital.

Belshitz says similar stories are happening in children's hospitals in Toronto, acknowledging that in some cases it happens, and some children, though not all of them with severe illness episodes, had parents rushing them to the emergency room for professional help.

"The vast majority of children coming in are not admitted because their condition doesn’t require hospitalization. They are not eating or drinking well. They have a fever."

He adds, "I have seen many of my colleagues catch COVID from their children, who are now catching it at schools." "We see many of my colleagues unable to work now because they caught the virus from their families."

Omicron is putting more children in the hospital compared to previous variants.

A health official at CHEO says that three-quarters of all pediatric admissions have occurred since December 1. Meanwhile, SickKids Hospital in Toronto and McMaster combined admitted 448 children between January and March 2022, with 75 young children in intensive care.

Belshitz said, "I would say to any parent thinking about this, if you have a healthy child, the rates will most likely be okay." "But unexpectedly, we don’t know the children who are supposed to be healthy but can end up with very bad outcomes."

On Monday, Premier Doug Ford described the rise in cases as a "minor surge" that the province expected. Health Minister Christine Elliott repeated that message on Tuesday.

"This is expected. Elliott said: "This thing was going to happen as the province progresses through its reopening plan to this degree, and with the spread of this virus, we expected to see numbers rise."

On Tuesday, Quebec and Prince Edward Island extended regional mask mandates earlier this month in an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia plan to expand access to fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccines, with the National Advisory Committee on Immunization saying all provinces and territories should prepare to start offering boosters.

Edited by: Dima Abu Khair