Children die from mystery illness in New York

A condition that may be related to COVID-19 has claimed the lives of two young children and a teenager in New York. Physicians in the state have diagnosed at least 73 children with an inflammatory illness similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday. Most of the patients are toddlers or school-age children who develop swollen blood vessels and heart problems.

What is the connection to the coronavirus? All of the children had tested positive for COVID-19 or the antibodies, Cuomo said. But they did not show symptoms of the coronavirus upon hospitalization, and there is no proof the virus causes the syndrome. The condition also has surfaced in other states and Europe.

Dig deeper: Read Dr. Charles Horton’s report on what COVID-19 antibody tests can tell us about the disease.