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A baby less than a year old who has tested positive for COVID-19 has died in Illinois, United States, officials announced on Saturday, March 28, 2020.
Governor Jay Pritzker revealed this as he gave an update to the press on the coronavirus situation in their state.
"Today I have some terribly sad news to announce. Among the fatalities over the last 24 hours was a state employee, a member of our team at the Department of Human Services, and an infant," he said.
Officials, however, clarify that the exact cause of death is still unknown, and that they are investigating the matter.
“There has never before been a death associated with COVID-19 in an infant. A full investigation is underway to determine the cause of death,” Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said.
“We must do everything we can to prevent the spread of this deadly virus. If not to protect ourselves, but to protect those around us,” she added.
Statistics show that COVID-19 rarely affects children, and those who do get it only exhibit mild symptoms or none at all.
Several cases of younger children testing positive for COVID-19 have been previously reported in Beijing and Wuhan in China, Singapore, and Germany, although no fatalities have been recorded.
Recent reports, however, indicate that even those who were previously thought to be at low risk of contracting the disease could die from it, such as the case of the 17-year-old boy from California.
Ezike added, "If you haven’t been paying attention, maybe this is your wake-up call."
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOWThe United States has the most number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world — close to 190,000 — as of this writing.
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