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This article originally appeared on VICE US.
A 5-year-old boy in New York died of the mysterious syndrome that could be associated with the coronavirus, Governor Andrew Cuomo said at his daily press conference on Friday.
Children have become ill with unusual symptoms, including conjunctivitis, swollen hands and feet, and, in severe cases, inflammation of the coronary arteries, which resemble a rare condition called Kawasaki syndrome. Many of the children who become ill with these symptoms have tested positive for the coronavirus, and doctors are investigating how the virus could be related to the disease.
So far, 73 children in New York State have contracted the disease. Until Friday, Cuomo said that a child had died. The boy was being treated in the bush. Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital in Manhattan, according to the New York Times.
The appearance of these symptoms undermines the idea that the virus has completely saved children. Early data from China indicated that no child had died from COVID-19. Children have been largely saved, only about 20 children have been confirmed to have died from the coronavirus in the US. USA But these symptoms similar to Kawasaki Syndrome appeared in children in Europe in areas affected by the coronavirus. A single hospital in northern Italy treated at least 20 children with the symptoms.
“This would be really painful news and it would open up a whole different chapter,” Cuomo said. “I can’t tell you how many people I spoke to calmed down because the children weren’t getting infected.”
Still, doctors say the condition is still very rare. “While it is concerning that children are affected, we must emphasize that, from what we know so far, it appears to be a very rare condition,” Lucia Lee, spokeswoman for the Mount Sinai Health System, told the New York Times.
The New York State Department of Health made a call Monday to hospitals to report these symptoms in pediatric patients to the state. There is still not much data on how many children could be suffering from the syndrome.
If these symptoms are caused by the virus, the infection has a very different cost in children than in adults. In adults, the virus generally attacks the lungs. In children, it could be attacking the heart. Inflammation of the coronary arteries causes a sudden drop in blood pressure and makes it difficult for blood to pump to your vital organs.
Cover: Healthcare workers perform a COVID-19 test at a management evaluation center at Etobicoke General Hospital in Toronto on Tuesday, April 7, 2020. (Nathan Denette / The Canadian Press via AP)
