1-Year-Old COVID-19 Patient Had ’50-50’ Chance Of Survival, Barely Survives Virus

A one-year-old child from New Mexico who tested positive for COVID-19 barely survived his bout with the virus, raising concerns about the safety of children under 5 who remain ineligible to receive vaccine shots.

Matteo Baca, a 13-month-old baby in New Mexico, began his battle against COVID-19 in December 2021 when he went to the doctors to resolve a recurring ear infection. The infant’s parents said he developed a cough and fever following the procedure.

Shannarose, Matteo’s mother, said they had the infant admitted to the hospital on Dec. 5 after he became lethargic, to the point where he refused to eat or drink. The baby’s coughing had also worsened considerably until Matteo took nearly an hour to recover, she told KOAT Action News.

Doctors at the hospital later diagnosed Matteo with COVID-19. He was soon moved to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit after his oxygen levels dropped, leading him to require a breathing tube and a chest tube.

Matteo was placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine for the virus. The device is used to remove carbon dioxide from a person’s body and send oxygen-rich blood back.

While the ECMO device helped the one-year-old’s heart and lungs heal, patients put on the machine often have a 50-50 chance of surviving being put on the supplemental oxygen and coming off of it.

Matteo was placed on ECMO for nine days before it was taken off on Dec. 20. He was weaned from the ventilator and was completely off supplemental oxygen by Christmas Day.

The 13-month-old baby is one of the many children who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 across the United States. As of Feb. 10, the country has recorded 12,341,801 total child coronavirus cases, representing 18.9% of all infections registered since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

As of Thursday, no COVID-19 vaccine is available for children under the age of 5. Pfizer-BioNTech, one of the leading vaccine makers, is still testing the efficacy of giving younger children three doses. Results are expected to come in a few weeks.

While vaccines are still unavailable for children under 5, health officers recommend observing COVID-19 preventive measures, including mask-wearing and social distancing.