The 7-year-old boy from Chatham County, Georgia who died from COVID-19 last week was found to have drowned in a bathtub after having a seizure due to high fever.
Chatham County Coroner Bill Wessinger released the newly found discovery after performing an autopsy on the body.
The child, whose name was not released, was found unresponsive and pronounced dead at the hospital, and then tested positive for COVID-19 postmortem.
According to the preliminary report, the child died from drowning, secondary to seizure caused by high fever from contracting coronavirus.
Wessinger also revealed that while the death was reported on Thursday, the child died about two weeks before the health department reported his death.
He also said that seizures due to high fevers are very common in children suffering from COVID-19.
The boy, who is African American and had no underlying conditions, is the youngest victim of the coronavirus disease in the state.
Wessinger added that the state is currently investigating reports whether the child had attended the same church where two elderly members tested positive and died from COVID-19.
Dr. Lawton Davis, the Health Director for the Coastal Health District earlier said in a statement that, “Every COVID-19 death we report is tragic, but to lose someone so young is especially heart-breaking.”
“We know that older individuals and those with underlying conditions are at higher risk of complications, but this is a disease everyone should take seriously,” he added.
The boy is not the first child in the US to die from COVID-19, as a 9-year-old girl who also does not have an underlying condition died last month.
“Please watch out for each other, wear a mask in public, wash your hands often, and stay home if you’re sick,” said Davis.
“A community-wide crisis demands a community-wide response, and we all must do our part to keep each other safe.”