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Colorado health officials this week identified the first coronavirus outbreaks connected to childcare facilities in the state.
At least four adults and one child have tested positive for COVID-19 after being exposed to the novel virus in childcare facilities, reported The Denver Post, citing data from the state’s public health department. The news comes as the Centennial State has begun to loosen restrictions on more businesses temporarily shuttered because of the pandemic.
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All of the cases linked to childcare facilities in the state are located in the Denver area, according to the newspaper. More specifically, Orchard Valley Learning Center, in Arapahoe County, and The Learning Experience Westminster, in Jefferson County, have reported outbreaks.
At least four adults and one child have tested positive for COVID-19, an infection they developed after being exposed to the novel virus at childcare facilities, officials said.
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Although experts say children appear to be less affected by the virus overall, the news comes as doctors across the country are increasingly reporting cases of a mysterious inflammatory illness in some children with COVID-19 infections.
Earlier this week, the Connecticut-based Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital (YNHCH) announced what is said to be the state’s first cases of the pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome, or PIMS, which doctors have said is similar to Kawasaki disease, or a condition that causes swelling in medium-sized arteries throughout the body.
The condition has also been identified in recent weeks in pediatric coronavirus cases in a handful of other U.S. states and elsewhere, raising alarm for doctors in New York and California as well as abroad in the United Kingdom. In New York, specifically, at least three young children have died after being hospitalized with the rare Kawasaki disease-like illness, the state’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo said over the weekend.
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In Colorado, other outbreaks are connected to grocery stores, manufacturing facilities, prisons, at least one dairy plant, and long term care facilities, according to The Denver Post.
Overall, there are more than 20,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Colorado, which has also reported some 1,062 virus-related deaths, according to official estimates.