First US infant death linked to COVID-19 reported in Illinois

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The first infant death related to COVID-19 in the United States has been reported in the Chicago area today (March 28).

"There has never before been a death associated with COVID-19 in an infant," said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). "A full investigation is underway to determine the cause of death. We must do everything we can to prevent the spread of this deadly virus. If not to protect ourselves, but to protect those around us."

More than 85% of COVID-19 deaths in Illinois have been in patients aged 60 and older. And across the U.S., even though 31% of confirmed COVID-19 cases occurred in adults ages 65 and older, this age group represents 45% of hospitalizations, 53% of admissions to the ICU and 80% of the deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on March 26.

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Editor's note: This article was updated to fix the spelling of Cook County.

Originally published on Live Science.

Jeanna Bryner is managing editor of Scientific American. Previously she was editor in chief of Live Science and, prior to that, an editor at Scholastic's Science World magazine. Bryner has an English degree from Salisbury University, a master's degree in biogeochemistry and environmental sciences from the University of Maryland and a graduate science journalism degree from New York University. She has worked as a biologist in Florida, where she monitored wetlands and did field surveys for endangered species, including the gorgeous Florida Scrub Jay. She also received an ocean sciences journalism fellowship from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She is a firm believer that science is for everyone and that just about everything can be viewed through the lens of science.