As of July 17, Nueces County in Texas has reportedly recorded 85 positive coronavirus tests among infants under one year of age. However, the number of babies who tested positive for COVID-19 was debunked to be false.
The true tally was that Nueces County registered children aged under 1 year positive for COVID-19 and 33 children aged between 1 and 2 years tested positive. Therefore, the total is 85 novel coronavirus positive children under 2 years old. Nueces County is located in South Texas.
According to Nueces County Director of Public Health Annette Rodriguez at a press briefing on Friday that an evaluation of the county's data displayed that 85 residents under the age of one tested positive for the coronavirus, reported CBN News.
The infants have not reached their first birthday yet, Rodriguez added. The local health official did not elaborate on the situation of the children.
Cases involving infants are usually rare, but babies under one-year-old are more susceptible to serious illness with COVID-19 due to their and smaller airways and not fully developed immune system, reported Fox News.
Local officials are imploring residents to contribute to stopping the coronavirus transmission as Texas has evolved to become one of the newest hotspots of the virus.
Health authorities have recorded over 3.6 million coronavirus cases throughout the United States since January, reported CTV News.
Texas is one of the around two dozen states combatting fast increases in coronavirus confirmed cases after rapidly reopening their economies alongside Florida, Oklahoma, and Arizona.
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According to the Nueces County Medical Examiner Adel Shaker, an infant boy less than 6 months old died after testing positive for the virus.
The date when the cases were confirmed was not stated by Rodriguez.
Questions remain regarding the infection rates of US children.
When the coronavirus pandemic became prevalent in Texas, Nueces County remained relatively healthy as the Amarillo region agonized due to the virus outbreak.
The beachfront location has one of the most rapidly growing outbreaks in Texas, adding over 2,000 new cases for each of the previous two weeks.
A number of hospitals in the state are almost at capacity as the coronavirus grow prevalent.
With infants under 1 year of age representing around 1% of the coronavirus positive cases, 8,407 people have tested positive for the virus since March.
According to the Corpus Chrisi's official data, Nueces County has recorded 90 deaths as of Saturday at 4:15 PM.
Data from Johns Hopkins University indicated that health authorities have identified over 3.6 million coronavirus cases throughout the United States with 140,000 fatalities.
The tally of coronavirus cases in Texas' Nueces County rapidly rose in July after a flattening trend. Therefore, local officials are advising citizens to wear face shields and comply with social distancing measures.
Texas, taking into account the babies who tested positive for COVID-19, has grown to become a new hotspot for the virus with 15,038 newly-confirmed cases on mere July 16.
For the past week, Nueces County has recorded 2,499 new confirmed cases and 40 fatalities and was deemed as "the fastest growth in new cases on the seven-day average than any other metropolitan county in the state," according to Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni.
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