The youngest from Florida reported death of COVID-19 in Hillsborough Co.
Evan Axelbank reports
TAMPA, Fla. – A 6-year-old girl from Hillsborough County has become the youngest person in Florida to die of COVID-19. She died on August 17, according to the state report.
Because the state’s privacy policy prevents it from providing further information, it is not clear how they contracted the disease or what, if any, other health risks they had.
We know she’s one of nearly 34,000 Floridians under 15 to get the virus.
They make up 6% of the total cases of the sunshine state, but less than 1% of the dead, with a total of four.
“COVID is a milder disease in children than it is in adults,” said Dr. Allison Ford Messina of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. “There are some theories, but I do not think any of the theories that people have thought about have been proven. In fact, I know that none of them have been proven.”
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Pediatricians advise parents to be ready for 10-14 days in quarantine in case a child is exposed to COVID-19 at school.
There is now a lot of focus on COVID-19 and how it affects children when schools reopen.
Nine schools in Manatee County have confirmed cases after the district’s first week back. It was the first in the Bay Area to reopen.
Manatee County said the known cases were in children living with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
Officials will now closely monitor teachers and classmates. Scientists have not determined if one case in a classroom or school will result in a so-called superspread event.
Elders plead at the hospital to make exceptions on visits
Clinton Grams’ 10-year-old son Alex has been battling leukemia at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital for more than a year. He and his wife Mindy have spent the past few months fighting over a visitation rule that came into place because of COVID-19.
One doctor who testified before the state in a lawsuit to stop schools from opening said it was unlikely.
“This virus does not behave in that sense like our normal expectations for how other viruses behave in terms of children who pass it on,” said Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University.
Dr Messina says that so far research has been mixed on how efficiently children spread COVID-19, but it is likely that children will transmit the virus as adults do, via respiratory drops. Sy
“The take-home of this is that everyone has to wear their masks,” said Dr. Messina. “We should not make children think they can not transmit it, even if they are less likely.”
To date, about 430 children have been admitted to statewide hospitals, which is just 1% of the cases among children.
Pediatric COVID-19 deaths in Florida. Source: Fla. Department of Health
According to data from the Department of Public Health, a total of 7188 children tested positive for the virus from August 7 to August 20, with a positivity rate of 13.1%.
As of Friday, a total of 47,489 minors have tested positive for COVID-19.
Doctors say that children generally see far fewer symptoms of the virus than adults, making them more likely to be asymptomatic carriers – although their role in spreading the virus is being studied.
