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“And of the kids who are 12 and older coming to our hospital and being admitted,” she added, “they are across the board unvaccinated.”
Mommy is here
When Adrian came down with a cough Tuesday of last week, Jackson never suspected he could have COVID-19. No one else in the house was sick.
She is a stay-at-home mom and had recovered from a mild case of COVID-19 in August, she said. She can’t get vaccinated because she has Guillain-Barre, a rare autoimmune disorder. Adrian’s father has had the first of the two-dose COVID vaccine.
A few days after Adrian started coughing, on Oct. 1, the toddler woke up hot and sweaty and not wanting to eat. Jackson gave him Tylenol and a bath. But after a nap, he woke struggling to breathe.
Jackson rushed him to nearby Good Samaritan Hospital, where doctors gave him first priority in a packed emergency room.
“They were kind of freaking out,” Jackson said. “The doctor said he was breathing 76 times a minute, and he should only be breathing 35 to 40 times a minute.”
Staff immediately sent for a medical helicopter to take him to Cardinal Glennon, an hour-and-a-half away by car. A test revealed he had COVID-19.
“I was so scared. I was crying, but I was trying not to cry because I didn’t want him to see me crying, because he was really scared too,” Jackson said.