How to recognize Covid-19 symptoms in children, based on pediatricians' advice

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Wed, 2020-08-12 09:51 — mike kraft

How to recognize Covid-19 symptoms in children As US schools and universities move forward with plans for full or partial in-person instruction, parents worry about the spread of coronavirus. Here's what we know about Covid-19's impact on children and how to identify the illness. Sandee LaMotte, Katia Hetter, Kristen Rogers and Ryan Prior, CNN CNN

(CNN) Are parents really supposed to be reassured by all this talk about "mild" cases of Covid-19 in children? What about the unfortunate "few" youngsters who have died or come down with a strange and severe associated illness?

No parent wants to take the odds that their child might be the exception to the rule.

"We've had 90 deaths in children in the United States already, in just a few months," Dr. Sean O'Leary, vice-chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Monday.

"It's not fair to say that this virus is completely benign in children," he said....

Symptoms of Covid-19 are the same in children as they are in adults.

"If you look at the long list of potential symptoms — congestion, cough, fever, loss of sense of smell — they can all happen in both adults and children," O'Leary said.

Other key signs include any difficulty in breathing; a rash, especially one that is quickly spreading; a lack of energy; and problems keeping a child awake, said pediatrician Dr. Daniel Cohen, who practices close to the epicenter of the New Rochelle, New York, outbreak, where nearly 2,900 people were infected from early March through late May.

"It's very important to let the doctor know immediately if you can't really get them up, if they're falling asleep all the time and just exhausted, if they're not drinking, not eating -- the activities of daily living," Cohen said.

No worry is too small to reach out to your pediatrician, experts say. Parents are the best detectives because they know how their child typically behaves....

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