On Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed that 52 New York City children are suffering what city health officials are calling a “multi-system inflammatory syndrome” with 10 cases pending.
“It’s sobering, it’s bluntly frightening … it’s essentially something we did not see in the month March or April, it was not something that the healthcare community saw on their radar and then in the last week or two we have started seeing something that is very troubling,” said de Blasio during his daily novel coronavirus press conference.
Out of the 52 children with the syndrome, 25 have tested positive COVID-19 the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, while the remaining 22 had anti-bodies suggested they all contracted the virus at one point and then recovered, according to the Department of Health.
The condition, which resembles Kawasaki’s Disease, causes fever, rash, reddish colored eyes, swollen lymph nodes and sharp abdominal pain and causes inflammation throughout the body with serious effects to the heart. So far, one child has died from the syndrome.
Over 100 children across the state have the syndrome.
“This is something that’s just starting, and New York is leading the investigation of the situation,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo in his daily novel coronavirus press conference on Tuesday. The majority of the children suffering from the inflammatory syndrome are between the ages of 5 and 14. Some cases appear in young adults as old as 21, the governor added.
De Blasio encouraged parents to call 311 to report their child’s symptoms and be connected to a medical professional if they do have access to a pediatrician.
This story originally appeared on amny.com.
