Families Live in Fear as Long-Haul Covid Afflicts More Children
One of the few statistical comforts of the otherwise nightmarish Covid-19 pandemic — that it largely spares young people — is fading: The long-haul symptoms that have stricken many U.S. adults are now hitting those under 20.
A relatively small but increasing percentage of children are struggling for months with extreme fatigue, rapid heart rate, memory loss, depression and other symptoms. In one sign of their growing numbers, the UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland is opening a Long Haul Clinic just for young people, the first of its kind in the country.
Families whose children are afflicted are plunged into a terrifying maze of symptoms that come and go, and have no knowable end point. Katie Krol, 42, got the virus from a co-worker at a Michigan engine plant in March 2020 and brought it home to her two youngest children. All three continue to suffer.
Even the family of one of the Biden administration’s top Covid advisers, Andrew Slavitt, is dealing with the same issue. At a White House briefing Tuesday, he revealed that one of his “young and fit” sons was infected by the virus six months ago, but still experiences shortness of breath and frequent flu-like symptoms. Slavitt said the family has no idea how long it will last. “The pediatric piece of this is pretty neglected,” said Amy Edwards, associate medical director of pediatric infection control at University Hospitals in Ohio. “Kids with long haul have brain fog, chronic fatigue, fevers on and off, weird rashes. Long-haulers don’t go to the hospital. They suffer at home.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-19/long-haul-covid-kids-coronavirus-proving-more-serious-risk-to-children