Mom of 7-month-old with coronavirus warns kids also at serious risk

A 7-month-old baby from rural South Carolina has tested positive for the coronavirus, after being diagnosed with viral pneumonia and running a high fever, according to a report.

Now his mother is speaking out to warn parents the coronavirus — which is said to be more serious for older adults — can hurt children, too.

“I really feel like people need to know that it’s possible that their children can get it, and I feel like a lot of people are taking it as a joke,” mom-of-three Courtney Doster told WOWT News in Camden. “It’s obviously very serious.”

Doster has also been infected and was around her children for days before her test results were confirmed positive.

Little Emmett’s symptoms started with a fever Monday, which quickly spiked to 104 degrees by the evening.

Doster rushed him to a nearby Urgent Care, where he was diagnosed with viral pneumonia.

He was transferred to Prisma Health Children’s Hospital, where he spent the night, and on Tuesday, his test results confirmed he was positive for COVID-19.

Now, the family — which is under a Health Department mandate not to leave their home until April 1 — is living in a state of uncertainty.

“It’s very, very scary not to know — could he make a turn for the worse tonight and just not be able to breathe,” Doster said. “I’ve noticed him coughing more than he did in the beginning and so that’s very scary.”

Doctors instructed her to give Emmett Tylenol only, because ibuprofen and breathing treatments could exacerbate his condition. If his symptoms worsen, they told her to call 911.

Doster’s mother has also been diagnosed, and she is monitoring her 4- and 2-year-olds for symptoms.

“We’re watching them closely and checking their temperatures, keeping an eye on them just to make sure that they don’t show any symptoms just because the period can be up to 14 days, so there is a very big possibility that they become sick too,” Doster told the station.