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‘Every parent’s nightmare’: Boy’s death may have virus link

The Associated Press

FILE - This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes COVID-19. The sample was isolated from a patient in the U.S. On Tuesday, April 21, 2020, U.S. health regulators OK'd the first coronavirus test that allows people to collect their own sample at home, a new approach that could help expand testing options in most states. The sample will still have to be shipped for processing back to LabCorp, which operates diagnostic labs throughout the U.S. (NIAID-RML via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) – A 5-year-old boy in New York state has died of an illness possibly linked to COVID-19, and dozens of other children in the state have fallen severely ill with a similar malady that scientists have linked to the coronavirus, Cuomo said Friday.

Cuomo did not provide details about the child, who he said died Thursday. But he added there have been 73 reported cases in the state of children showing symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease – a rare inflammatory condition in children – and toxic shock syndrome.

The boy’s death is sad news for New Yorkers who believed children were largely unaffected by the coronavirus, Cuomo said.

“So this is every parent’s nightmare, right? That your child may actually be affected by this virus,” the Democratic governor said. “But it’s something we have to consider seriously now.”

Dozens of children elsewhere in the U.S. have been hospitalized with the inflammatory condition that might be linked to the coronavirus and was seen in Europe.

Symptoms include prolonged fever, severe abdominal pain and trouble breathing.

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