This disease affects kids with COVID-19 — and 10% of California’s cases are in Tulare County

Health officials in Tulare County have a warning for parents: Take all necessary precautions against COVID-19.

The county’s Health and Human Services Agency issued the warning Friday after cases of the COVID-linked Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, or MIS-C, were reported in the county.

Of known cases of MIS-C in California, 10% have been reported in Tulare County, according to health officials.

“It’s extremely important for parents to be aware of the elevated risks of MIS-C due to the prevalence of COVID-19 throughout Tulare County,” said Dr. Karen Haught, Tulare County Public Health Officer.

While the exact causes of MIS-C are unknown, many children with the disease test positive for the virus that causes COVID-19, or they have been around someone with COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which issued its own warning to healthcare teams back in May.

Symptoms of MIS-C may show up weeks after a child is infected with or exposed to COVID-19.

In children, MIS-C can feel like a trip “through hell,” causing inflammation in the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes or gastrointestinal organs. The disease typically affects children between the ages of 1 and 14. Symptoms can include fever, abdominal (gut) pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes, or extra tiredness.

Tulare County continues to be on the state’s coronavirus watchlist and is reporting some of the highest rates in the state for both transmission and positivity. Of the 13,117 positive cases reported in the county as of Friday, more than 1,700 have been under the age of 17.

The warning comes as at least one school in the county is choosing to operate as Day Camps, in order to skirt the state order requiring public and private schools on California’s coronavirus watchlist to remain closed.

In a statement on Friday, the Tulare County Public Health said it was aware of the situation but it does not have regulatory authority or oversight of day camps and therefore cannot approve or deny a school from operating as such.

Health officials are discouraging any effort to congregate children from multiple households and are in communication with local school officials to encourage the practice of distance learning as much as possible until COVID-19 case rates decline.

“Keeping children home as much as possible and limiting exposure outside the immediate household is the best preventive measure until case rates of COVID-19 decline,” Haught said.