Idaho officials confirmed the state’s first child death from Covid-19 Tuesday. An infant less than a year old died last month in southwestern Idaho. Officials are not disclosing many of the details in the interest of the family's privacy.
Dr. Guillermo Guzman, an obstetrician from Nampa, says it's not known if the mother passed the coronavirus infection along to her child.
“My understanding is the majority of hospitals are testing on admission of pregnant women," Guzman told reporters at a Tuesday media briefing. "And if positive we emphasize even more so, all the precautions they can take to prevent really sad cases like this.”
Medical Director of the Idaho Division of Public Health, Dr. Christine Hahn, says while the case reported Tuesday is the first child death from coronavirus in the state, records show there have been some in-utero deaths.
“We had no stillbirths due to covid reported in 2020 due to Covid-19, but we have had two stillborn infants reported in 2021 in which Covid-19 or recent Covid infection was listed as a cause or underlying cause on the death certificate," Hahn said.
While the death announced Tuesday is the first for Idaho, a press release from the state Department of Health and Welfare noted nearly 900 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported among children in the U.S. since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
