Opinion: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children related to Covid-19 isn’t the mystery it’s made out to be
As a physician taking care of hospitalized Covid-19 patients, I had very nearly become immune to the sickening sensation provoked by new, invariably frightening information about this disease. But as a parent, when I saw the first reports of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, the pit in my stomach churned with new ferocity: “15 Children Are Hospitalized With Mysterious Illness Possibly Tied to Covid-19” read the headline in the New York Times.
All of a sudden, the facts I relied on to steady myself — children are less affected by coronavirus; when they have symptoms they are generally mild; schools were closed not for the sake of the children but for the vulnerable people they came into contact with — became irrelevant, vanished in a fog of mystery. Fear for my toddler son’s life threatened to swallow me.
