NYC pediatrician issues grim warning that 80 per cent of children in the city are infected with COVID- 19 but claims lack of testing doesn't make them a priority to get medical assistance
- Dr Dyan Hes, a pediatrician with New York City's Gramercy Pediatrics, offered the grim statistic when explaining that there were 'zero tests for children'
- Roughly 1.7 per cent of the coronavirus cases reported as of April 2 were patients under the age of 18
- Some 147 children have been hospitalized, including 59 that are under the age of one
- Three children have died from the virus
- Dr Hes believes that the real numbers of children with the disease are much worse, blaming the lack of testing for why more accurate figures aren't available
- Doctors are offering video consultations for those who need to have their children's health monitored
- The pediatrician's statements come as New York City announced 3,778 additional 'probable' deaths attributed to coronavirus
- Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
A New York pediatrician said she thought a staggering 80 per cent of children in the city are infected with the coronavirus as she explained that most kids have not been tested as they are not the priority in hospitals.
Dr Dyan Hes, a pediatrician with New York City's Gramercy Pediatrics, offered the grim statistic when explaining that there were 'zero tests for children' to see whether they had COVID-19.
'We have zero tests for children. We have zero swabs,' she explained to CBS. 'I've had patients whose parents have COVID, child has a 102.5 fever. At the beginning when we were doing this, we were sending them to the ER. They got turned away. They were not tested because we do not have enough tests and the kids are doing well.'
Dr Dyan Hes, a pediatrician with New York City's Gramercy Pediatrics, offered the grim statistic when explaining that there were 'zero tests for children'
Dr Hes believes that the real numbers of children with the disease are much worse, blaming the lack of testing for why more accurate figures aren't available
"I don't mean to be rude, but the numbers are totally wrong”
Dr. Dyan Hes, founder of Gramercy Pediatrics, says she thinks 80% of children have coronavirus — but they are not being tested.cbsn.ws/3elkf6K
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A CDC report published last week that focused on the diseases impact on children found that while 'most cases reported among children to date have not been severe, clinicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for COVID-19 infection in children and monitor for progression of illness, particularly among infants and children with underlying conditions.'
Roughly 1.7 per cent of the coronavirus cases reported as of April 2 were patients under the age of 18. Some 147 children have been hospitalized, including 59 that are under the age of 1. Three children have died from the virus.
But Dr Hes believes that the real numbers of children with the disease are much worse, blaming the lack of testing for why more accurate figures aren't available.
'I don't mean to be rude, but the numbers are totally wrong,' Hes said. 'I think that probably 80% of the children have coronavirus. We are not testing children. I'm in New York City. I can't get my patients tested. And we have to assume, if they are sick, they have coronavirus.
'Most of them, probably 80 to 90% of them, are asymptomatic. So, these numbers are so skewed. I think that the mortality rate is way, way less than 0.5% for children who have it because it is so prevalent. You have to remember thousands of kids die from flu a year. This is much, much less virulent in children.'
The pediatrician said families should just assume their child probably has the coronavirus if they start showing symptoms.
The pediatrician's statements come as New York City announced 3,778 additional 'probable' deaths attributed to coronavirus, which were never confirmed because no test was administered
'You won't know,' she said. 'If your child does have a low-grade fever right now and a cold, you have to assume that it's COVID because you're really not going to get tested in New York City. In other states, maybe you'll get tested. But in most places, we're saving the tests for the sickest.'
Dr Hes said that the large number of children with asymptomatic symptoms could spell disaster for others who could still get infected.
'The problem with children is that they are so asymptomatic that they are spreading it. And our biggest mistake was that we didn't close the public schools when we should have,' said Hes.
'So the children were the vectors to the teachers, who might be elderly or immunocompromised. They might have diabetes or cancer, but they still had to come to work every day. They still had to take the subway every day.'
Doctors are offering video consultations for those who need to have their children's health monitored.
'The really only reason your child should be going to a physician at this point, aside from a vaccine visit, is if they're short of breath,' she said.
'If you're social distanced and your child has a fever, then somehow that child probably brought it into the house by playing with a neighbor or maybe when you went grocery shopping, you brought it in. But you just have to keep that child at home for 14 days. Socially distance. When they go back out, if they're above age 2, they should be wearing masks.'
Children under two struggle tolerating the masks, the doctor added.
Some 21 teachers in the city have died as a result of the coronavirus, according to the New York City of Education on Monday. The report from the CDC does state that children with mild or no symptoms did contribute to the spread of the virus.
Earlier this week, health department officials shared that they were headed towards not having enough swabs to conduct tests for the virus.
As the swab supply continues to decline, there is a real possibility hospitals will completely run out,' the April 11 health alert said.
'At this time, providers are reminded to only test hospitalized patients in order to preserve resources that are needed to diagnose and appropriately manage patients with more severe illness.'
The warning came amid repeated pleas from New York City and state officials for the federal government to provide widespread testing in order to move to a containment phase in the coronavirus outbreak.
Since early February, when the number of coronavirus cases confirmed in the United States was just a handful, city officials have been begging the government for test kits.
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At least three letters were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention beginning in early February asking the federal agency to expedite the delivery of coronavirus test kits to the city.
The pediatrician's statements come as New York City announced 3,778 additional 'probable' deaths attributed to coronavirus, which were never confirmed because no test was administered.
There are more than 6,500 confirmed deaths
The probable deaths, announced on Tuesday, occurred between March 11 and April 13, and when combined with confirmed deaths take the city's coronavirus death toll higher than 10,000.
The probable cases would put New York City's per capita death rate much higher than Italy's, and increase the national U.S. death toll by roughly 17 percent.
Due to a shortage of test kits, particularly in the early days of the outbreak, not everyone hospitalized in critical condition or found dead at home was able to be tested for the virus. Postmortem tests were often not conducted in order to conserve test resources.
City officials said that the newly announced deaths were ruled probable based on the known symptoms and health histories of the patients who died.
Roughly 60 percent of the probable deaths occurred in hospitals, versus 90 percent for confirmed cases, according to city data.
Eighteen percent of the probable deaths occurred in nursing homes, and 22 percent occurred in private residences, officials said.
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