Coronavirus: 5-year-old in ICU with COVID-related illness

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A 5-year-old boy was hospitalized last week with a rare infection caused by the coronavirus.

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Xyden Luckett checked into the intensive care unit Monday at the Hunstville Hospital for Women and Children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome, WAFF reported.

“Typically children have mild symptoms, but this is an example of those that can have more severe, potentially life-threatening infections,” Dr. Steffane Battle, a pediatrician at University Alabama Birmingham, told WAFF.

Battle said at least 10 other children in the state have shown the more aggressive symptoms.

Luckett was put on breathing and feeding tubes. They were removed late last week.

Mother Brooke Willis said no one in the family has tested positive for the coronavirus or shown any symptoms.

“That’s what really shocked me about it,” Willis said.

Willis said she hopes her son’s fight with the virus serves as a warning to others.

“This COVID stuff is real,” she said. “It is real. And I’ll tell you now, I was the one taking it lightly at first. Once it got to the point it was attacking my baby’s heart and lungs and he can’t help himself, that’s when I was like, OK, people have to know about this.”

Cox Media Group