Monitor your children
COVID-19 starts off with milder symptoms in children, but gets severe if not taken seriously. Therefore, it’s essential that parents be aware of the symptoms and seek medical help immediately.
Nishant Bansal, a consultant neonatologist at the Motherhood Hospital in Noida, India, lists some of the signs and symptoms of Covid-19 in kids:
♦ Fever
♦ Cough
♦ Trouble breathing
♦ Symptoms of a cold such as a sore throat, congestion, or a runny nose
♦ Chills
♦ Muscle pain
♦ Headache
♦ A loss of taste or smell in children above 8 years of age
♦ Nausea or vomiting
♦ Diarrhoea
♦ Tiredness
Even inflammation throughout the body remains a major concern, sometimes several weeks after they were infected with the virus.
This is called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). Doctors are still trying to find out how these symptoms are related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Symptoms of MIS-C can include:
♦ Fever ♦ Stomach pain
♦ Vomiting or diarrhoea
♦ A rash
♦ Neck pain
♦ Red eyes
♦ Tiredness
♦ Red, cracked lips
♦ Swollen hands or feet
♦ Swollen glands (lymph nodes)
If your child is suffering from MIS-C, he or she may have trouble breathing, pain or pressure in the chest, bluish lips or face, confusion, or trouble staying awake.
Such symptoms should not be ignored and the child should be taken to hospital. It has been observed that those children do get better with hospital care, sometimes ICU admissions.
If a child has symptoms, what to do?
Seeing and examining the condition of the child, the doctor will then decide how to go about it: if it can be treated at home, if one should come in for a visit, or if one can have a video or telehealth visit.
How to keep family members safe if the child has symptoms
It’s essential that all family members stay at home until their test reports arrive. Ensure that only one person in the family is handling the care of the sick child.
If the infected child is above 2 years old then he/she should wear a mask, at least while the caregiver is in the room.
Don’t leave the child alone for a long time.
If the sick child is using the same bathroom then wipe down the bathroom with disinfectant after he/she uses it.
Other family members should sanitise their hands at regular intervals.
Everyone should get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible. |