MEMPHIS, Tenn — A child who died tested positive for COVID-19, but the hospitals which treated the patient say he or she passed away from a different condition.
So why is the death still being reported as a coronavirus death?
Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital said an underlying health condition was the cause of the child’s death.
Yet it was included in COVID-19 reporting under the direction of the Tennessee Health Department.
Monday the Shelby County Health Department spoke on the first COVID-19 related pediatric death in Shelby County saying the child was only 11-years-old.
Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital said he or she was a patient there and at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
In a statement the hospital said the child was not symptomatic and that the virus was not thought to have impacted the child’s condition.
The hospital stressed the death must be included in COVID-19 reporting.
When Local 24 News contacted the Shelby County Heath Department they cited statewide reporting guidelines and that there may be a primary cause of death but COVID-19 could be listed as a secondary cause or contributing factor.
When Local 24 News inquired about cases in which COVID-19 was neither, a response was not immediately sent back.
The Tennessee Health Department says on its website that when a person dies of something completely independent to COVID-19 like a car wreck, it will not be counted as a COVID-19 death.
Dr. Jon McCullers with Le Bonheur said more COVID-19 cases are being seen in children than earlier in the pandemic part of a nationwide trend.
He warns parents to keep a mask on their child and avoid large gatherings.