United States Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Daniel R. Betancourt Jr., via Flickr
The first confirmed death of a child from COVID-19 in Minnesota is among the youngest to die from the disease caused by the new coronavirus in the United States, according to officials from the Minnesota Department of Health.
Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm announced the death of the 9-month-old boy from Clay County during a press conference on Monday: “We are very sad to report today the death of a 9-month-old boy who tested positive for COVID-19 “
Malcolm said it was an “isolated incident” related to the baby’s “very specific situation”, although due to data privacy, he did not speak further about the baby. However, MDH epidemiologist Kris Ehresmann said “the boy did not have an underlying health condition.”
Ehresmann said the 9-month-old boy had “some of the expected respiratory symptoms” associated with COVID-19 “and showed some evidence of inflammation in the upper respiratory tract. Officially, doctors identified two causes of death:
- Upper / lower respiratory tract infection
- COVID-19 positive nasal culture
“It clearly had evidence of a respiratory infection and was positive for COVID-19. How significant was the COVID infection, that’s for the coroner to discuss,” said Ehresmann.
The boy was not hospitalized.
Malcolm said the case represents “one of the youngest deaths in the country reported to date.” Due to the rarity of children dying from the disease, state health officials are sending samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for further analysis.
“We can learn more from CDC, but at this point we know that the child had COVID, and unfortunately we are including him in our total deaths,” Ehresmann said, noting that MDH hopes CDC’s analysis will help them understand better the physiological changes that occurred with the child.
Subscribe to our newsletters
COVID-19 and children
The latest data reported by the MDH reveals that there have been 986 confirmed cases of COVID-19 involving children ages 0-5 in Minnesota. This is the first death of anyone under the age of 20 in Minnesota.
Ehresmann explained that most young children contract the virus from adults. Children are less likely to handle the transmission.
“Children tend to have milder illness, fewer hospitalizations,” said Ehresmann. “We want to recognize that we continue to learn about this disease.”
“What we don’t know, and we believe this is true for all ages, we really don’t know the long-term underlying impact of a COVID infection on an individual,” he added.
ABC News recently reported a study published in Lancet that suggests that many children are asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms. The study said that children “were more likely to become seriously ill and to be admitted to the ICU if they were children, newborns, or had underlying health conditions or lung infections.
Underlying health conditions and COVID-19
On July 17, the CDC adjusted its list of underlying health conditions at three levels:
The strongest and most consistent evidence: Serious heart disease, cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD, obesity, sickle cell disease, solid organ transplant, type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Mixed evidence: Asthma, cerebrovascular disease, hypertension, pregnancy, smoking, use of corticosteroids or other immunosuppressive drugs.
Limited evidence: Bone marrow transplant, HIV, immunodeficiencies, inherited metabolic disorders, neurological conditions, other chronic lung diseases, pediatrics, liver disease, type 1 diabetes mellitus, thalassemia
.
