Queens Boy, 8, Suffers Heart Failure After Coronavirus Infection

GLEN OAKS, QUEENS — An 8-year-old Queens boy ended up on a ventilator in intensive care after a suspected infection of the new coronavirus.

The Richmond Hill resident appeared healthy until he developed a fever and started suffering bouts of diarrhea in late April, the boy's father told NBC4 New York. One day he called out for his mother, who went to his bed and found him unresponsive with blue lips.

EMS rushed the boy to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, which transferred him to Cohen Children's Hospital on the Queens-Nassau County border, according to NBC4 and the New York Post.

Doctors put him on a ventilator in Cohen's pediatric ICU, where he tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, suggesting that he'd previously been infected with the virus, news reports say.

The boy's symptoms — inflammation, cardiac arrest and heart failure — are now being spotted in other young patients who test positive for the coronavirus or a previous infection.

At least 15 New York City kids are in the hospital with toxic shock or symptoms associated with Kawasaki disease, a rare inflammatory disease triggered by viral infections, according to the city's health department.

As of Tuesday morning, Cohen Children's was treating 10 kids with cases of the coronavirus, according to a spokesperson for Northwell Health, which runs the hospital. It's unclear how many of those patients are experiencing Kawasaki-like symptoms.

The World Health Organization began investigating a possible connection between Kawasaki disease and COVID-19 after health care workers saw patients presenting with similar symptoms in Italy and the United Kingdom.

The disease causes temperatures to spike, eyes to redden and neck glands so swell, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, deputy health commissioner with the NYC Department of Health, said in a memo to health care providers. Symptoms may also include rash, vomiting and a "strawberry tongue," according to Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot.

"We're not sure what to make of this yet," Barbot said. "We're still learning how COVID-19 behaves."

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