During a briefing Saturday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said three children had died of an inflammatory syndrome that may be related to the coronavirus.
“We were laboring under the impression that young people were not affected by COVID-19. And that was actually good news,” Cuomo said. “… One of the few rays of good news was young people weren’t affected. We’re not so sure that is the fact anymore.”
Cuomo continued: “Toddler, elementary-school children are presenting symptoms similar to Kawasaki Disease or toxic-shock like syndrome. Now, these are children who come in, who don’t present the symptoms that we normally are familiar with, with COVID … it’s not a respiratory illness, they’re not in respiratory distress. And I think that’s one of the reasons why this may be getting discovered this far into the process. It’s more an inflammation of the blood vessels, which can then cause problems with their heart.”
The governor said there are 73 cases they are studying, and three youngsters have died.
“As it turns out, these children happened to have the COVID antibodies, or be positive for COVID, but those were not the symptoms they showed when they came in to the hospital system,” Cuomo said. “So it’s still very much a situation that is developing.”
