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First Iowa child death from COVID-19 reported by Iowa Department of Health
A 5-year-old Iowa child with underlying health conditions is the first recorded child death from COVID-19 in Iowa.
According to a Sunday release from the Iowa Department of Public Health, the child died in June and a subsequent investigation into the death was finished by the state medical examiner on Aug. 6. News of the child's death was made public after officials could ensure the child's identity would remain protected while also informing the family, according to the release.
The department noted that investigations are routine when any individual under the age of 17 dies due to disease or other unnatural circumstances.
According to the release, the medical examiner performed a full range of testing and tried to rule out other possibilities due to the child's health history. After these tests, COVID-19 was deemed the cause of death.
This illustration provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in January 2020 shows the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). This virus was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China. (CDC via AP)
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