A three-week-old baby in New York is the youngest identified person in the United States who has been diagnosed with the coronavirus.
The infant was cared for at New York University Winthrop Hospital for several days but has since been released to recuperate at home, according to Fox News.
NYU Pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Asif Noor spoke to the outlet on the matter, advising to people keep possibly infected young patients away from the elderly, though infections can be “self-limiting” in young people.
“You make sure if there is an elderly person or someone who has an underlying medical problem, you limit contact with them realistically as much as possible. I mean, with some families, maybe they can ask their grandma and grandpa to go and live with the uncle and aunt for a week or two weeks. Maybe it’s not possible, but then, you’ll have to separate them. Make sure the elderly, the vulnerable, stay in one room. And if you are sick, stay in the other room,” Noor said.
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Though it is typically understood that the elderly are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, the newest case sheds light on the fact that young people are also susceptible to infection. On Tuesday, a person under the age of 18 in California died after contracting COVID-19. The case followed aggressive actions from California Gov. Gavin Newsom to mitigate the virus’s spread, including issuing a “stay-at-home” order for all people living in the state.
More than 490,000 people have tested positive for the coronavirus globally. Of those, at least 22,000 have died from it, and more than 118,000 have recovered. The U.S. has seen at least 69,000 confirmed cases, with more than 1,000 deaths and 619 reported recoveries.
