26-day-old baby tests positive for Covid-19 following autopsy, county coroner says
Hollenbach said the baby girl did not necessarily die from Covid-19 and the cause of death remains under investigation. There was no suspicion of foul play and a toxicology screening has been ordered, he said.
The baby was found unresponsive Sunday morning and was taken to Reading Hospital, Hollenbach said. She died soon after being admitted.
The coroner’s office and Berks County detectives are leading the investigation, Hollenbach said.
The baby’s aunt, who is not from Berks County, had tested positive for Covid-19 at some point but “had been back to work for two weeks now, Hollenbach said.
Hollenbach did not know whether that meant the aunt came in contact with the baby while she tested positive, but he clarified that her positive result is what prompted the infant to be tested postmortem.
The parents had not been tested for Covid-19 before the infant’s death, Hollenbach said.
Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, only two infants have had autopsies in Berks County, one of which was a homicide, Hollenbach said.
