Paolo Perrinez, 6, reacts after receiving a COVID-19 test by registered nurse Noreen Cheng, left, at a drive-thru testing site at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago on Aug. 25, 2021. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

If I were a city editor, and a reporter had handed me this story (above) I would have tossed it back because of the gigantic holes in it.

Not to pick on these reporters, this information is missing from virtually every story about the pandemic, especially as the information relates to children catching Covid-19. It opens:

As Illinois enters a new school year, more children are being hospitalized for COVID-19 than last time around — though such admissions remain relatively rare, in contrast to the chaotic scenes playing out in pediatric hospitals elsewhere.

Fair enough. Yet, as breathlessly is the news reported that hospitals that are filling up with infected children, basic information is either downplayed or missing.

Thankfully, the second paragraph puts the problem in perspective:

This month, an average of more than 30 Illinois children a day have been admitted to hospitals with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, with the rolling seven-day average reaching 40 admissions last Wednesday. A year ago at this time, average daily admissions were around 20 in early August before peaking at 35. [Emphasis added,.]

To more accurately reflect the reality, I would have put those numbers in the story’s lead: “As Illinois enters a new year, 30 children are being daily hospitalized for COVID, compared with an average of around 20 a year ago.

Oh.

Puts a different slant on it, doesn’t it?

More important data are missing to tell a more complete story:

How long are the children are the children hospitalized?How many are discharged?How many have died?How serious are their symptoms?How many of those who show up at the hospital are not hospitalized?What are their ages?

Here it must be said that all of that data might not be available or collected. That would be a serious problem in itself. In any case, it raises the question of whether the seriousness of pandemic on children is being overstated.

Certainly, no one would do that, right?