The State Department of Health will host a statewide webinar Thursday for healthcare providers to discuss the symptoms, testing and care of reported inflammatory disease in children related to COVID-19.
About 102 reported cases are under investigation in New York where children are experiencing these symptoms possibly related to COVID-19. Three New York children, a 5-year old in New York City, a 7-year old in Westchester County and an 18-year-old in Suffolk County, have died of the inflammatory disease known as pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome.
Of these cases, 60 percent of the children with these symptoms tested positive for COVID-19 and 40 percent tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said. Additionally, 71 percent of the cases have resulted in ICU admission, 19 percent of cases have resulted in intubation and 43 percent of the cases remain hospitalized.
At the request of the CDC, the state is helping to develop the national criteria for identifying and responding to theillness. New York State has notified 49 other states across the country of emerging cases of COVID-related illness in children, and now 14 other states and five European countries have reported cases as well.
“We must stay alert with this virus because we’re still learning, and what we thought we knew doesn’t always turn out to be true,” Cuomo said. “When we first started with this virus, we were told children are not affected, which was a great sigh of relief. But now we’re finding out that may not be 100 percent accurate because we’re seeing cases where children who may have been infected with the COVID virus show symptoms of an inflammatory disease like the Kawasaki disease or toxic shock-like syndrome. “
Parents should seek immediate care if a child has:
Predominant Symptoms:
- Prolonged fever (more than five days)
- Severe abdominal pain, diarrhea or vomiting
- Bloodshot eyes
- Skin rash
Other Symptoms:
- Change in skin color – becoming pale, patchy and/or blue
- Difficulty feeding (infants) or is too sick to drink fluids
- Trouble breathing or is breathing very quickly
- Racing heart or chest pain
- Lethargy, irritability or confusion
For more information, visit www.health.ny.gov.
