The Cook County medical examiner’s office is conducting additional testing on an infant who state and city public health officials say contracted COVID-19 and died last week.
The testing could conclude within days, said Natalia Derevyanny, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner.
Since the pandemic started, cases are reported to the Cook County medical examiner’s office when there is an indication the coronavirus had something to do with the death. The office reviews the cases and issues an official ruling.
Derevyanny said the infant’s death required further testing before her office would release a final determination.
“The ME conducts its own testing and does its own due diligence to determine the manner of death,” she said.
The announcement of the death of a 9-month-old from Chicago who was diagnosed with COVID-19 shocked and saddened officials, who called the case exceptional.
Dr. Allison Arwady, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health, first announced the death of a minor due to the virus Saturday morning. Pritzker and Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the state’s public health director, also addressed the death later that day at press briefing and in a statement.
“I know how difficult this news can be, especially about this very young child,” the governor said. “Upon hearing it, I admit that I was immediately shaken. It’s appropriate for any of us to grieve today. It’s especially sorrowful for the family of this very small child for the years stolen from this infant. We should grieve. … We should grieve for a sense of normalcy we left behind just a few short weeks ago.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health did not release any additional details about the infant, including whether the child had any underlying medical conditions.
Ezike said there have been no other confirmed coronavirus-linked cases in the world involving a child so young and that a “full investigation is underway to determine the cause of death.”
According to the Cook County medical examiner, the infant was pronounced dead March 23.