LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Norton Healthcare is seeing more kids contract COVID-19, but the virus can look different in children.
Emaline Davie, 10, loves gymnastics. She's been sidelined by coronavirus, though, and her mother said "she's sicker now than she's ever been."
"When I walked into my daughter's room Monday morning and she could not get out of bed," said Corey Spragens, Davie's mother. "I tried to talk to her, and she couldn't keep her eyes open. As a mother, that is terrifying."
Davie, who had a fever, got a COVID-19 test on Monday, and results came back positive on Saturday.
Spragens was tested Tuesday, and her results came back quicker. She tested positive but feels much better than her daughter.
The mother and daughter have very careful with mask wearing and social distancing, according to Spragens, who said her daughter would only go to school and do gymnastics.
"So many people think that kids don't get very sick," she said. "I hear it all the time — or that kids can't infect other people. My daughter actually infected me."
Emaline Davie, 10
When a child tests positive for COVID-19, it's common for a family member to have it too, according to Dr. Kristina Bryant, a pediatric infectious diseases doctor at Norton Children's Hospital. On the flip side, more adults testing positive also means there's a higher risk of children becoming infected, too.
"At the children's hospital, there was one day last week where we had five kids hospitalized with COVID," Bryant said. "That's pretty unusual for us. That's definitely an uptick in hospitalizations."
Norton Healthcare said its pediatric COVID-19 numbers show 152 positive cases out of 1,354 tested between Nov. 1-7; that's a positive rate of 11.2%.
Norton Children's Hospital in Louisville, Ky.
Bryant said some parents may not realize their child has the virus.
"I've had some parents say they are so surprised it's COVID because they didn't have fever," she said. "About half of kids with COVID might not have a fever."
Most kids who contract the illness either have no symptoms or just mild symptoms, according to Bryant. Doctors are seeing children with coronavirus develop a multi-system inflammatory syndrome that causes a rash. But they said they are getting better at diagnosing the condition when they see it.
"COVID-19 in children looks just about like every other virus," she said. "... Some of them just may have runny nose or cough; some have (gastrointestinal) symptoms."
Dr. Kristina Bryant, a pediatric infectious diseases doctor at Norton Children's Hospital
While there is COVID fatigue in the community, Bryant said doctors need your help to stop the spread.
"If we go out when we're sick, if we go especially when we have a pending COVID test or some people know their positive, we really just put others at risk," Bryant said.
Menanwhile, Spragens is just hoping her 10-year-old daughter will feel better soon.
"I'm here to tell you it is real," she said. "It is terrible to see your 10-year-old in pain and coughing."
Copyright 2020. WDRB News. All rights reserved.
