New Question About Covid 19 In Children

New Questions About
COVID-19 & Children As a Rare Set of Symptoms Surface

The Backstory

Monday: NYC Health Dept. issued alert after flagging 15 children with similar symptoms hospitalized since mid-April.

Patients: Aged 2-15 years old; some tested positive for COVID-19 (or antibodies) while others tested negative.

Symptoms: Similar to toxic shock and/or “Kawasaki disease” (an illness that causes inflammation), persistent fever.

“We want to reassure parents – this appears to be uncommon.”

Dr. Jane Newburger, Dir of the Kawasaki Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, in a statement released by the American Heart Association on Wednesday. The group says, though rare, "some children are becoming very ill extremely quickly" and list symptoms as "persistent fever, inflammation & evidence of single or multi-organ dysfunction" and "may or may not test positive for COVID-19."

Why It Matters:

This bulletin from NYC is corroborated by reports from doctors in Europe and the U.S, (mainly on the East Coast) and notably in areas with high COVID-19 infection rates.

Health officials have been baffled at the low rates of COVID-19 among children — this raises questions about a more nuanced, rare response in otherwise healthy children.

Something To Consider

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among U.S. children remains low. However, children are not extensively tested.

According to the most recent CDC data, about 21,000 Americans under 18 tested positive for COVID-19, a small percentage of the 1M+ cases.

For context – the 2019-2020 flu season was particularly deadly for children under the age of 4 (CDC reported 170 deaths), and had historically-high hospitalization rates for those under 18 years old.