Children are seeing more severe coronavirus-induced illnesses, and doctors aren't sure why

Children wear masks.
(Image credit: John Moore/Getty Images)

COVID-19 has left most children physically unharmed as it continues to sweep the U.S. But a rare illness that so far has only affected a small number of children is seemingly growing more common — and more severe, The New York Times reports.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first started, scientists discovered that it could induce what they called Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, or MIS-C. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recorded 2,060 cases of the illness so far, affecting everyone from infants to 20-year-olds; Black and Latino children account for 69 percent of cases. And like many doctors across the country, Dr. Roberta DeBiasi, chief of infectious diseases at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., told the Times that cases are increasing and growing more severe. Early in the pandemic, about half of patients with MIS-C ended up needing intensive care, but that has increased to 80 or 90 percent, DeBiasi said.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.