RWJ New Brunswick Treats 5 Kids For Illness Linked To Coronavirus

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — It's here in New Jersey. An alarming children's inflammatory syndrome first reported in New York City and the United Kingdom — which doctors fear is linked to coronavirus/COVID-19 — is also popping up at New Jersey hospitals.

New Jersey also just announced its first pediatric death from COVID on Friday, a 4-year-old who had an underlying medical condition that may have contributed to their death, said state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli.

So far, there have been five children hospitalized with the illness at Rutgers RWJ Barnabas Health in New Brunswick, confirmed a hospital spokesman. The children reported shortness of breath and fatigue; some had a fever — all of which indicated much more serious illness inside the child's body: Inflammation of the heart, low red blood cell counts and even the beginning stages of kidney and liver failure.

Of the three children at Robert Wood, three tested positive for COVID-19 and two tested negative. The negative children, however, did test positive for antibodies, said RWJ spokesman Peter Haigney.

Those five are part of a total of 13 children in New Jersey who have been hospitalized for the mysterious inflammatory disease, which doctors say resembles Kawasaki syndrome. There are now 74 similar cases in New York City, and a 7-year-old and 5-year-old died from it in Westchester, according to the New York City Patch.

In addition to the five at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson, there have been five children treated at Hackensack University Medical Center, two at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson and one at Morristown Medical Center, according to the Burlington County Times. The children ranged in age from 3 to 14 and they all were previously healthy, with no underlying conditons.

All thirteen New Jersey kids survived, according to the report, although some remain in the hospital.

When they arrived at the hospital, some of the children were so sick they were going into shock, with extremely low blood pressure, which is what happens before organs start shutting down, reported the newspaper.

At least one of them, the three-year-old in Morristown, was treated with the antiviral Remdesivir, which showed great success, according to the Burlington County Times.

The New Jersey Heath Dept. is working with the CDC to investigate what's making these children sick, said Donna Leusner, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health.

"Cases characterized by persistent fever and features of Kawasaki disease and/or toxic shock syndrome were reported in the United Kingdom and have recently been identified in children in the United States," Leusner told Patch. "Similar presentations have been reported from facilities in New Jersey and the NJDOH is working to gather additional information on these reports."

"The New Jersey Department of Health is working closely with CDC and neighboring states to investigate reported pediatric cases of multi-system inflammatory syndrome that may possibly be associated with COVID-19," she said.