Durham mother tells others 'trust your instincts' after toddler contracts COVID

Nana Asante-Smith said her son, Kailondo, had been congested for several weeks.

"For a while, we thought, 'Hey, this is routine congestion. We’re in the winter months, flu season,'" Asante-Smith said, adding that his symptoms got worse in the days leading up to Christmas, including fevers at night, vomiting and difficulty breathing.

On Dec. 23, while Asante-Smith and her husband were at work, Kailondo's day care providers called her to say he was having a hard time breathing and was very lethargic. So, she rushed him to an urgent care clinic and demanded that he be tested for coronavirus.

“My concerns for Kailondo and his medical condition was not taken as seriously by medical professionals as they should have been. There was a lack of urgency that was, and is, unacceptable," she said. "Despite all of his symptoms, I had to ask and insist on a COVID-19 test for him. He deserved better than that.“

On Christmas morning, the test result came back positive.

"There was a sense of guilt that I had not listened to my initial instincts, but then that guilt quickly turned into action," Asante-Smith said. "I knew it was incumbent upon me to be his voice, to be his relentless advocate, and that’s what I did. ... I just couldn’t take a no for an answer. I couldn’t take any kind of shortcuts for an answer."

She said she has no idea how Kailondo became infected and doesn't want to speculate. Both she and her husband have tested negative.

"It was absolutely terrifying, watching and hearing him have difficulty breathing, watching and hearing him try to catch his breath," she said. "COVID-19 is unpredictable. You don’t know how it’s going to affect your child. What started as mild congestion quickly ballooned into something that was much, much worse."

Kailondo is now "back to his regular, energetic, bouncy self," his mother said, and has been cleared to return to day care. Meanwhile, she and her husband remain in quarantine.

She said the past 10 days have been exhausting, as she watched him intently day and night for any signs his condition was getting worse.

"We consider ourselves to be very diligent and vigilant in how we are handling COVID-19, but I think we just have to remember how unpredictable and uncertain these times are," she said.

Of the more than 565,000 coronavirus cases reported in North Carolina over the past 11 months, only 2 percent were in children 4 or younger, and another 2 percent were in children ages 5 to 9, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Despite the science that says children are less susceptible to the virus, Asante-Smith said parents should trust their instincts and get a child tested if they feel something is wrong.

"Nobody knows your child better than you do," she said. "When something feels off, trust that it’s off."