Special Needs Kids and COVID

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Anchor lead: Some groups of children may experience more severe COVID-19 disease than others, Elizabeth Tracey reports

COVID-19 infection seems to hit most children much less severely than many adults, but there are groups of kids who may be especially vulnerable. That’s according to Rachel Thornton, a pediatrician at Johns Hopkins.

Thornton: There are other groups of children we worry about. That includes any child with known reductions in the function of their immune system. That may include a lot of children who are getting treatment for cancer for example. It may include children who are getting treatment with medicines that we know depress the functioning of the immune system, high dose steroids or some other medicines that are used to suppress the immune system. And those kids we may have to have a higher threshold of concern for.  :30

Thornton says she relies on the expert judgment of parents, nurses and other caregivers of children who may have special needs to identify when a problem might be developing and seek care. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.