A 12-year-old girl with no pre-existing conditions is “fighting for her life” after testing positive for coronavirus.
The girl, who was only identified as Emma, is being treated in an Atlanta hospital after being diagnosed with pneumonia on March 15 .
Emma’s cousin, Justin Anthony, told CNN his family has no idea how the young girl contracted the deadly disease – as she has no pre-existing conditions and did not travel recently to any foreign country.
Mr Anthony said Emma tested positive for coronavirus on Friday night.
As of Saturday, she was on a ventilator at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta-Scottish Rite Hospital, where she is listed in stable condition.
The hospital confirmed that a patient tested positive for COVID-19, but declined to go into details.
A spokeswoman for the hospital said: “The patient remains in isolation, and we have consistently used appropriate precautions.”
“Additional details will not be released due to patient privacy laws.”
Mr Anthony told CNN that Emma’s mother approved him telling her story to the media in order to get the message out that young people were also in harm’s way.
He said: “I know first hand how dangerous it is.”
Mr Anthony added he was frustrated at people’s claims that COVID-19 doesn’t impact the health of the younger generation, urging the public to that the disease more seriously.
He said: “Here’s a 12-year-old fighting for her life.”
“People need to practice social distancing. People need to take care of their children.”
Health experts have said the older generation and those with underlying health conditions are at the greatest risk of contracting and dying from coronavirus.
Youth currently account for the smallest percentage of the infections identified so far.
Young adults have better outcomes than the elderly, but they too are not immune to the virus.
It is believed that while children can contract and spread the virus, they generally develop a mild case of the illness.
However a report issued this week by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows younger people are now making up a big portion of hospitalizations.
The study showed up to 20% of people hospitalised with COVID-19 in the United States are young adults between ages 20 to 44.
The United States reached yet another shocking milestone on Sunday as the number of coronavirus cases reached 31,019.
At least 389 people have died.
15,168 of those were in New York state, where Governor Andrew Cuomo said an estimated 40% to 80% of residents could get the coronavirus over the course of the course of the pandemic. The Sun
