Guyana’s Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony has noted a disturbing trend; with young children displaying severe symptoms of COVID-19. During his daily update today, the official noted that since March 2020, there have been 1,567 instances out of more than 20,000 cases of children up to 14 years old contracting the virus.
He said of that number, 287 were children below four years old, 524 between the ages of five and nine, and 756 were aged nine to 14 years.
“While most of the cases (in children) so far have really been mild, over the last two weeks or so we have seen a disturbing trend and right now in our hospitals, we have four children who have been severely infected by COVID,” the Minister noted.
He said that three of the children are being kept at the National Infectious Diseases Hospital, Liliendaal, while the fourth child is expected to be admitted soon.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported while fewer children have been sick with COVID-19 compared to adults, children can be infected and spread the virus. Children, like adults, who have COVID-19 but have no symptoms (“asymptomatic”) can still spread the virus to others.
Most children with COVID-19 have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. However, some children can get severely ill from COVID-19. They might require hospitalization, intensive care, or a ventilator to help them breathe. In rare cases, they might die.
CDC and partners are investigating a rare but serious medical condition associated with COVID-19 in children called Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C).
