Rise in alarming new kid illness

There are now 145 New York City kids sickened with the rare Kawasaki-like inflammatory disease, Mayor de Blasio said Monday.

“It is a very sober and painful topic,” de Blasio said of the mystery disease during his daily COVID-19 press briefing.

The illness, which the city has been calling pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or PMIS, is now being referred to by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, and the city will also refer to it that way going forward, de Blasio said.

The mayor noted that the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is reviewing cases reported in the Big Apple under the CDC’s new definition of the disease, which the CDC last week said is, in fact, related to COVID-19.

As of Monday, the city has logged 145 cases using the initial PMIS case definition, and, of those patients, 67 tested positive for coronavirus or antibodies for the virus, de Blasio said.

Common symptoms of MIS-C include: persistent fever, irritability or sluggishness, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or vomiting, rash, red or pink eyes, enlarged lymph node gland on one side of the neck, red cracked lips or red tongue, and swollen hands and feet.

“That’s a lot to be aware of,” de Blasio said, adding, “Any of those symptoms you see in your child, call your health-care provider.”

“If you see multiple symptoms, especially important,” the mayor said, who noted precautionary measures for kids include: good hygiene, wearing face coverings in public and social distancing.

De Blasio also said the Big Apple still has more work to do in its battle against the coronavirus as the latest statistics for the city’s daily COVID-19 indicators show “a mixed bag.”

Still, de Blasio predicted that the city will meet the state’s seven COVID-related benchmarks by mid-June, which means that the Big Apple could start its phased reopening by then.

As of Monday, New York City has only met three of the seven criteria needed to enter phase one of reopening.

Also by June, de Blasio said the city will be producing more than 60,000 coronavirus test kits per week.