Health officials backtrack on coronavirus death of 17-year-old in California
Hours after announcing the first person under 18 to die from complications of coronavirus, California health officials are backtracking, saying the 17-year-old from Los Angeles County could have died from something else.
On Wednesday, county health officials said they would no longer include the boy’s death in the tally of coronavirus deaths until they know more information, according to the Associated Press.
Health officials said Tuesday that the teen was from Lancaster, California, about 70 miles north of Los Angeles.
“Tragically, one of the people who died was a person under the age of 18,” Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said during a news briefing on Tuesday live streamed on Facebook. “A devastating reminder that COVID-19 infects people of all ages.”
The minor’s exact age was not released by health officials, but California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in his nightly news conference that the victim was a teenager. The minor’s death was one of four in Los Angeles County that were announced Tuesday.
Late Tuesday night, health officials issued a new statement: “Though early tests indicated a positive result for COVID-19, the case is complex and there may be an alternate explanation for this fatality.”
Officials say they are asking the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to evaluate the case.
The CDC said last week that there were no reported fatalities of anyone younger than 19.
In Atlanta, a 12-year-old girl is on a ventilator after testing positive for coronavirus, McClatchy News reported.
She was diagnosed with pneumonia on March 15 before testing positive for COVID-19 on Friday, according to McClatchy News. Her family said she has no pre-existing conditions.
In South Carolina, a 7-month-old baby tested positive for coronavirus, according to WACH.
Experts say children and adults catch coronavirus at the same rate, but children typically have milder symptoms, according to McClatchy News.
There have been more than 2,4500 confirmed COVID-19 cases and at least 60 deaths in California, The Sacramento Bee reported.
State corrections officials said earlier this week that an inmate at California State Prison, Los Angeles, near Lancaster, where the minor was from, tested positive for coronavirus, The Sacramento Bee reported.
Nationally, more than 65,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University and Medicine.
This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Health officials backtrack on coronavirus death of 17-year-old in California."