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NYC Reports First COVID-19 Death In A Child Since Schools Started
By
Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky
Published Oct 15, 2021
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By
Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky
Published Oct 15, 2021
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Another New York City child has died of COVID-19, according to data posted this week by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The death raises the city’s reported toll among the youngest New Yorkers to 30.
Citing privacy concerns, the mayor and the health department wouldn’t confirm the child’s age, when they died and if they were exposed at school. But it’s the first COVID-19 fatality reported among minors (which covers ages 0 to 17 years) since public school students returned to classrooms on September 13th. The city’s last pediatric deaths were counted on August 2nd, when the health department raised the childhood figure from 26 deaths to 29.
Fewer COVID cases have been reported in children over the course of the pandemic, due in part to the lockdowns and the prioritization of adult patients. But infected children are way less likely to be hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Thank god our youngest kids have been the least affected,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told the Brian Lehrer Show on Friday
Yet when pediatric hospitalizations happen, the kids can suffer routine complications such as respiratory failure and also stand a small chance of developing a later-stage condition known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).
The new death comes as kids ages 5-12 lead the city’s weekly case rate for the first time in the pandemic—even as the last surge begins to taper off. New York City schools have seen more than 3,500 children diagnosed with COVID-19 since the start of the school year. All elementary school students, as well as about a quarter of older children, are unvaccinated. The mayor reiterated his call for parents to get their younger kids vaccinated if the shots are authorized later this month but reiterated that he wouldn’t call for a vaccine mandate in kids under 12.
“We believe in just a few weeks we’ll be able to reach 5- to 11-year-olds with the vaccine the second we get authorization from Washington,” he said.
READ MORE: NY Pediatricians Group Calls For Requiring Fully Approved COVID-19 Vaccines For State's Schoolkids
New York and several other states are preparing to start vaccinating younger children. Kids over 5 could become eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine as soon as November, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy announced earlier this week.
Nationwide, pediatric COVID cases soared in September, topping out at more than 250,000 reported infections the week of September 2nd, according to data collected by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Tagged
COVID-19
new york city
children
health
vaccine
Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky
Jaclyn is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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