THREAD FOR ILLINOIS PARENTS & SCHOOL BOARDS

In 2020, how many pediatric COVID-related deaths were there in Illinois in 2020?

Far as I can tell, 3 or 4.

How about pediatric flu deaths?

8

Let’s take a look
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The basis of this analysis is a new CDC file, linked here: https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/AH-Provisional-COVID-19-Deaths-by-Quarter-County-a/ypxr-mz8e

Sorting">https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/AH-P... the data by age, we see three counties showing a non-zero number of 0-17 COVID deaths in 2020: Cook, DeKalb, & Will.

FYI, in this file, 0 means zero, but “blank” means “between 1-9”.
DEKALB CO: This is 1 pediatric death. How do we know? County website only lists 1 https://health.dekalbcounty.org/about/covid-19-dashboard/">https://health.dekalbcounty.org/about/cov...
WILL COUNTY: County DPH lists 0 COVID deaths for 0-10, and 2 for 11-19: https://c19-willcountygis.hub.arcgis.com"> https://c19-willcountygis.hub.arcgis.com 

I tried to find out the exact ages from WDPH, to no avail. We can still say n=2 or less insofar as pediatric goes.
COOK COUNTY: The county ME publishes all COVID-related deaths. We see 3 listed for 2020, occurring in March, April, and December, respectively. https://datacatalog.cookcountyil.gov/Public-Safety/Medical-Examiner-Case-Archive-COVID-19-Related-Dea/3trz-enys/data">https://datacatalog.cookcountyil.gov/Public-Sa...
However, the CDC lists Covid 0 deaths in Cook for age 0-17 in Q2, Q3, Q4.

We see non-zero (btw 1-9) listed for Q1.

But the only Cook Co pediatric death in that timeframe was an infant who died in March.
Notably, this infant’s death was investigated twice - the second time at the Governor’s request. While tragic, the death was complicated

P.S. At one point the CCME had listed HIV as a secondary cause for this infant as well, but no longer does https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧐" title="Gesicht mit Monokel" aria-label="Emoji: Gesicht mit Monokel"> https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-infant-coronavirus-death-20200610-blrq4ft575djxji3ai6vu3cx4q-story.html">https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavir...
This 12-YO boy’s death, also tragic, is apparently NOT “counted” as a COVID death, per the CDC count https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-youngest-virus-victim-20200514-fruc2ziczbar5oqcj2cj7x2vty-story.html">https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavir...
Likewise, this 13-YO male& #39;s December 2020 is not included in the CDC’s count for Cook.
Most parents don& #39;t realize that IDPH announced 8 pediatric flu deaths in 2020 (Jan & Feb). Another occurred during the 2019-2020 season in December 2019 http://www.dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/diseases-and-conditions/influenza/surveillance/archive/2019-2020

I">https://www.dph.illinois.gov/topics-se... don& #39;t recall any media coverage or school closures. Do you?
In fact, there have been between 2-7 pediatric flu deaths in the past several seasons (Oct - May).

Where was the coverage? @chicagotribune

Why no panic about closing schools? @CTULocal1

http://www.dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/diseases-and-conditions/influenza/surveillance/archive/2019-2020">https://www.dph.illinois.gov/topics-se...
I& #39;m not sure how many times it needs to be said that while flu rarely kills children, even with a vaccine, it kills more children than COVID has or will.

Truth is, no one has paid attention to pediatric flu deaths b/c there are far greater threats to children& #39;s health & safety
If I have one hope for Illinois parents & school boards, it& #39;s that they would actually take time to read & make sense of data, instead of reacting in knee-jerk fashion to the latest screeching headlines about a child& #39;s or teen& #39;s COVID death

It& #39;s time to move past the panic

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