Berwick baby rushed to hospital with COVID-19
When five-month-old Stevie’s parents first heard her “distressed scream” they knew something wasn’t right. Hours later the Berwick baby was rushed to hospital with a pending coronavirus diagnosis. Here’s how it unfolded.
HS Coronavirus News
Don't miss out on the headlines from HS Coronavirus News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A five-month-old girl has been hospitalised with COVID-19.
The mother of little Stevie Thomas, one of the youngest Victorians to be diagnosed with the deadly virus, has spoken out to warn other families after the traumatic experience.
The baby was rushed to hospital by ambulance on Wednesday night when she became seriously ill and was struggling to breathe just hours after testing positive to coronavirus.
Her mum Nikki Boyle has a message for people who think children don’t get sick from COVID-19: They do, and it’s absolutely heartbreaking.
“I’ve seen it first-hand. This is real,” she said.
The Department of Health said 219 children under four years of age had tested positive in Victoria so far, with the youngest victim just 10 weeks old. It was not known how many of those became sick or were hospitalised.
Ms Boyle said Stevie had no underlying medical conditions and was a perfectly healthy baby until she contracted COVID-19 from her dad, Josh Thomas, who caught it at work through accidental contact.
“It was very scary because she’s so young … it was really confronting … it’s hard to hear that high-pitched, distressed baby scream,” she said.
Concerned by Stevie’s runny nose, cough, lethargy and difficulty breathing, Ms Boyle took her to Casey hospital on Tuesday evening.
Stevie was tested for COVID-19 but discharged about 4am on Wednesday morning with doctors suspecting she had a run-of-the-mill virus.
Later that morning, Ms Boyle received a call telling her Stevie — who will be six months on Monday — had tested positive for COVID-19 and advising her of symptoms to watch for, as the family isolated at home.
Over the course of the day Stevie went downhill and became listless, Ms Boyle said.
Her breathing was laboured and she stopped drinking.
“I could see she was becoming distressed and wasn’t feeding properly, she was wheezing and coughing and wouldn’t settle. She was working hard to breathe,” Ms Boyle said.
An ambulance was called about 7.30pm on Wednesday night and Stevie was taken back to Casey hospital.
Mr Thomas stayed home to care for their son Cameron, 2, while Ms Boyle went with Stevie to hospital, where staff expressed shock a baby so young had become so ill with coronavirus.
“They said they had suspected cases in children there before but this was the first positive one,” Ms Boyle said, adding she had only praise for hospital staff and paramedics.
While Cameron had so far tested negative, there was a chance he would develop coronavirus, in future, with the family quarantined together in a small house, she said.
Ms Boyle said her family’s ordeal should serve as a warning to Victorians to wear masks, practise social distancing, use sanitiser and wash their hands, because children were not immune to coronavirus.
Stevie was discharged from hospital about 5pm on Thursday and was recovering well at home, she said.
“She’s shown a lot of improvement … she was on the drip for a while and improved. She’s still not 100 per cent but she’s making really good progress, drinking more and not so upset … almost back to her happy self.”
MORE NEWS
VERY GOOD MAN: WIDOW HONOURS VIRUS VICTIM
SEVENTH VICTORIAN DIES, ADF TO DOORKNOCK CASES