Seven-month-old in Kershaw County tests positive for coronavirus
When Emmett Doster, a 7-month-old boy, woke up from his nap feeling warm this past Monday, his mother immediately knew something was off.
The infant’s 55-year-old grandmother had recently tested positive for COVID-19 just days earlier, making her one of the first cases in Kershaw County. Knowing that, Emmett’s parents feared the worst.
“We were already kind of on watch to keep an eye out for symptoms,” said Courtney Doster, Emmett’s mother. “So, when I checked him and then his temperature started going up, we got on the phone to try to figure out where we could have him tested at.”
Eventually, it was confirmed: Emmett tested positive for the novel coronavirus. His diagnosis was first reported by WIS-TV Friday afternoon.
Emmett is one of 125 confirmed cases in South Carolina and is also likely one of the youngest. State health officials would not specifically comment on his diagnosis Friday. Officials have been reluctant to provide specific information about new cases, such as patient age groups, how they may have contracted COVID-19 and whether they have been quarantined.
At one point, Emmett’s temperature hit 104 degrees, and he was diagnosed with pneumonia. Since then, though, his mother said his condition has gradually improved.
“He’s doing much better,” she said. “He’s still coughing, you can tell he doesn’t feel great, but he does feel better, because he doesn’t have a fever. We’re just kind of keeping a close eye on him, you know, monitoring his temperature and everything.”
But the process to get Emmett tested was far from simple, even with his previous contact with a confirmed case.
“It seemed like nobody really knew where to tell us to go,” Courtney Doster said. “We called between DHEC and then Prisma Health and then I called his regular pediatrician. And it kind of got back and forth, back and forth until we figured out to go to Urgent Care in Elgin, and that’s where we ended up going to get him tested at.”
Even at that Urgent Care, a 45-minute drive for the Camden family, healthcare workers were unsure whether an adult COVID-19 test would work on such a young child.
“They finally just (said) you know, ‘Hey, you bring him in and we’ll test him.’ So they were really great about that, but ... it took a good three hours to really figure out where to go. I feel like there’s a lot of confusion right now,” the mom said.
Like others, Courtney Doster said she heard that COVID-19 seemed to mostly spare children, a phenomenon that was noted early on in the outbreak. She said she was surprised when Emmett started showing symptoms, even after being around his grandmother.
“We were told by a lot of people, ‘Don’t worry, because kids can’t get it,’ even though my mom was positive,” she said. “You know, ‘they’re immune,’ or ‘they’re not showing if they are getting it, it’s just that they’re carriers.’ ... A lot of people don’t take it very seriously because they don’t think kids can get it,” she said.
The Doster family has two other children at home — a 4-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl — and say they want to spread awareness that children can be affected, too. The family has been ordered by DHEC to quarantine until April. As of now, no one else in the family is experiencing symptoms and the family is taking their situation one day at a time.
“We’re just kind of hanging out, trying to find things to do, playing outside, the older two are playing outside,” the mother of three said.
“We’re just urging people to stay home, wash your hands, listen to the president and the governor and all that good stuff.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 6:02 PM.
