KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) — At least 47 percent of Kansas Citians have their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Right now, vaccines are only approved for people 12 and older, leaving the youngest portion of the population unvaccinated.
Children’s Mercy said Monday it currently has the most Covid-19 inpatients since the beginning of the pandemic. Doctors at the children’s hospital are treating 22 children, ranging from teens to infants, for.
Ashlynn Sheets and Custon Lovelace’s daughter Journee was one of them.
“I was always like it’s not going to be us,” said Sheets. “I was also the mom that wouldn’t go to parks or anything all last year because I was just too scared. The one time I let my guard down, I mean, it happened.”
Ashlynn is a nanny. One of the children she watches tested positive for Covid-19. She believe the virus spread from them to her daughter.
“It’s been a lot of temperature checks, and oxygen checks and antibiotics and redoing IV’s because her little veins kept blowing,” Sheet said. “It’s been a lot.”
Ashlynn’s fiancé said he was in Iowa for work when he learned his daughter tested positive. He immediately asked his supervisor to send him home.
“I was very stressed out,” Curston Lovelace said. “Definitely had a couple of sleepless nights.”
Journee spent the last four and a half days hooked up to machines. Ashlynn said the power of prayer helped bring her baby home.
“Forty-eight hours ago, she wasn’t even eating a bottle. She couldn’t lift her head up. She was so lethargic,” Sheets said. “Now she has a normal temperature. She’s eating. She’s playing, smiling. It was such a 180 turn around and I cannot be more thankful for that.”
Lovelace and Sheets said their daughter’s trip to the hospital could have been prevented.
“There’s not a whole lot we can all do together but the main thing is if you’re not feeling good, stay home,” Lovelace said. “If you’re not sure what’s going on, find out before you go anywhere.”
Sheets said she will continue to support masking up when she leaves her home.
“Keep your distance and if you feel sick do not go out because these babies cannot protect themselves and they rely on us to adults to be able to be adults and protect them,” Sheets said.
Journee also has a 4-year-old sister who was exposed. She hasn’t tested positive for Covid and is staying with her grandma until her sister fully recovers.
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