First pediatric death from COVID-19 reported in Milwaukee



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MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Thursday evening that a 14-year-old boy from Milwaukee has died from complications from the coronavirus.

This is the first pediatric death reported from the virus in Milwaukee. The medical examiner’s office said the boy also had acute lymphoid leukemia and post-bone marrow transplant status in 2019. The boy tested positive for the virus in November of last year.

Spokesmen for the City of Milwaukee and the Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to TMJ4 News the boy’s death early Thursday evening. The medical examiner’s office subsequently tweeted that there was a possibility the boy had died from the coronavirus. The Bureau then tweeted an hour later that “this death was deemed to be ‘complications of infection with the novel coronavirus (Covid-19)’.”

State data shows there have been two previous deaths from COVID-19 between the ages of 10 and 19.

Wisconsin’s first pediatric death was a high school student in Madison last November.

To date, 279 children have died from COVID-19, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.

A CDC study from last July shows that 78% of the first 121 pediatric deaths were children of color.

Milwaukee County health officials say they are closely monitoring an increase in cases among children 18 and under.

“We averaged about five cases for children on average over a 7-day period,” said Greenfield Health Department Director Darren Rausch. “So an increase from 5 to 15 is certainly significant, but we’re still dealing with small numbers.”

Rausch said he could only speculate on the reasons for the rise, which he said could be spring break or spring sports. Data shows that cases have also increased among adults in the county.

“The increase in cases over the past two weeks is certainly concerning, I don’t know if we still have reason to sound the alarm,” Rausch said.

Currently, children under the age of 16 are not eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer is the only vaccine licensed for 16-year-olds, but the company said on Wednesday that tests show it is effective in children as young as 12. The FDA has yet to give its approval for this, and it could be about six months before the injections start. in the arms of young children.

This development is always good news for health experts.

“So it’s a big step for us and for our community to be able to really get the collective immunity that we are talking about, and bring some normalcy back to our children and protect them,” said Dr Smriti Khare, the president of primary care at the Wisconsin Children’s Hospital.

State data shows more than 7,600 children between the ages of 16 and 17 received their first dose of the vaccine.

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