NEW YORK _ Two more New York children have died from a "toxic shock-like" ailment that doctors now think is tied to the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday.
The toddlers who died were being treated for symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease, a mysterious and rare ailment, and tested positive for COVID-19.
"The illness has taken the lives of three young New Yorkers," Cuomo said.
"This is the last thing that we need at this time with all that's going on, with all the anxiety we have," he added. "Now for parents to have to worry about whether or not their youngster was infected."
Cuomo offered no other details about the two new deaths. A 5-year-old boy died in New York City Thursday from the ailment.
In what amounts to a shocking new front in the coronavirus fight, 73 toddlers and young children in New York are now being treated for the mystery illness, which include a potentially deadly inflammation of blood vessels.
Up to now, coronavirus was thought to have very little impact on children. A tiny proportion of the deaths from the pandemic have been young people, and almost all of those have other health conditions.
But the new revelation suggests that the virus may attack some kids in different ways than adults.
The scores of children affected by the Kawasaki-like symptoms were not necessarily diagnosed with COVID-19 because they did not suffer from the signature respiratory symptoms that coronavirus causes in adults.
Aside from the 73 cases in New York, health officials say there may be similar ones nationwide that have not been linked to COVID-19.
New York health officials will work with the Centers for Disease Control to develop a protocol for other states to identify similar cases.
Cuomo also said 226 New Yorkers died from coronavirus in the last day, a number that has remained stubbornly high even as other statistics continue to drop steadily.
About 600 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 yesterday, a figure that is down to about the level it was on March 20, before it rocketed up to levels that threatened to overwhelm the health care system.
