
State probes 2 more children's deaths for coronavirus link

State health officials are investigating the deaths of two children to see if they had a coronavirus-linked illness that has claimed the lives of at least three other youngsters, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Sunday.
“This is every mother’s nightmare, this is every parent’s nightmare,” Cuomo said at his daily news conference. One of the three other youngsters was a teen from Suffolk County, the governor's office said Saturday.
Hospitals in New York have reported 85 cases of the illness, known as pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome.
State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said a team of health experts will evaluate the information for each of those cases.
He declined to say how old the two suspected victims were or where they lived, citing patient privacy.
State officials said the other victims also included a 5-year-old in New York City and a 7-year-old in Westchester County.
The disease causes inflammation of the blood vessels and complications that can include inflamed heart muscles and breathing problems, experts said.
Most of the sickened children either tested positive for the coronavirus or for antibodies to the virus, officials said. Similar cases have emerged in Europe.
Symptoms include fever, rash and severe abdominal pain.
“These children did not present with respiratory illnesses,” Zucker said, referring to the common symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. “We are trying to figure out what is happening … the CDC is sending up people as well.”
Cuomo said New York officials are reaching out to other states to see if they have similar cases.
“Nobody knows that it wasn’t here and just not diagnosed because it doesn’t look like a COVID case,” Cuomo said.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said 38 cases of the syndrome have been diagnosed in New York City, and an additional nine are being reviewed.
“What it does is, basically in a child’s body, triggers intensive, almost overwhelming immune system response and that actually causes harm to the body,” the mayor said Sunday morning at his daily COVID-19 briefing.
The city identified the syndrome just in the past few days, de Blasio said. Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot said the syndrome was first identified in Britain two or three weeks ago.
“We are still learning how it manifests,” Barbot said.
More than 30 children have been treated at Long Island hospitals for the illness, with a majority at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park. None of the deaths occurred there, Northwell Health said Saturday.
Health care providers as well as hospitals are required to report all cases of pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome potentially associated with COVID-19 to the state Department of Health.
Zucker and Cuomo suggested parents get in touch with their pediatricians if their children experience symptoms such as nausea, chest pains, fever, diarrhea and vomiting — especially if they have had any contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus.
“The most important thing parents can do is err on the side of caution,” Zucker said.