A 2-month-old baby who died of a birth defect had also contracted COVID-19.
According to a report from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner, the baby was born with gastroschisis — a birth defect where a baby is born with intestines located outside the body.
The medical examiner's report notes that the baby was born at 37 weeks with the defect. On Sept. 8, after going home from a surgery, the child developed vomiting and diarrhea and was diagnosed with COVID-19.
He was pronounced deceased at a hospital after developing acute respiratory symptoms. According to the report, COVID-19 caused the baby's recent issues.
News of the child's death broke last Wednesday in an interview with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun. Khaldun warned that children are not immune to the virus. They still can — and are likely to — pass it on to others.
Across the U.S., about 800 children have been diagnosed with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), a disease associated with COVID-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), MIS-C is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.
DHSS says that a person's death is considered to be "COVID-19-associated" if a person has tested positive for the virus, died of natural causes and one of the following is true:
- The death is within 30 days of onset of COVID-19.
- If the death is more than 30 days from onset, the certifying physician identifies COVID-19 as a contributing factor to death.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with more information regarding the child's cause of death. While the child's death is still considered to be a COVID-19-associated death, more context has been added to the story.
This story was originally published by WXYZ in Detroit.