[user104658]

I do think it's worth pointing out that strep infections are extremely common and always have been extremely common... it's not like Covid or pox etc. that "has an outbreak"... for example, the majority of tonsilitis is caused by Strep A bacteria (and a tonne of other generic sore throats).

Strep A is not the unusual part of the equation here - it's the fact that more children's immune systems don't seem to be able to tackle normal, common strep A infections and they're developing sepsis (it's the sepsis that causes deaths).

The graph I think does illustrate quite clearly that Covid lockdowns are part of the equation here... massive drop off in 2020/2021 and then a corresponding leap upwards in 2022.

This is a complex scenario really where it's hard to know what to do. People are now (understandably) "germ-terrified" after Covid and the compulsion (again an understandable one) is to wrap up our kids and keep them safe from those bugs. But there's clear evidence that that germ-avoidance has lead to decreased immune system development that puts kids, especially, at far more risk when they do catch something.

In short - the more we keep very young children away from mild infections that develop their fledgling immune systems, the more risk they're at in mid to late childhood.

But of course after the last few years, no parent of young children wants to hear "your children literally have to get sick sometimes for their own safety".