State has 1st case of rare COVID condition

Rhode Island has had its first case of a rare but serious inflammatory condition in children that has been linked to the coronavirus, state De partment of +ealth Director 1icole $lexander 6cott said )riday.

The child was diagnosed with multisystem inflamma tory syndrome Thursday and tested positive for C29ID 19, the disease caused by the vi rus, she said. The child is in the hospital.

2ther than the fact that the child is a girl and of “school age,” no additional personal information was disclosed.

The arrival of the syn drome in Rhode Island was expected, $lexander 6cott said.

$lexander 6cott stressed that the condition, although potentially fatal, is rare and not contagious in and of itself.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and 3reven tion issued a warning about the condition in mid 0ay. The agency’s case definition includes a fever of at least 100. for at least hours, in flammatory markers in blood tests, and evidence of prob lems affecting at least two organs that could include the heart, kidneys, lungs or skin.

The health department on )riday reported new cases of C29ID 19 and seven ad ditional coronavirus related deaths.

The new cases from Thursday was the lowest sin gle day total since 0arch .

The number of people hos pitali]ed dropped to 91 as of Tuesday, the latest day for which the data was available, the lowest daily number of hospitali ]ations since 0arch 9.

$ll seven of the new deaths were people in their 0s or older, $lexander 6cott said. The state’s death toll from the virus is now 9 .