Children under 18 years old make up about two percent of confirmed coronavirus cases in New York City. That’s fewer than 1,000.

Though international and local data continue to show that children are not particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus, these cases require different care and attention from frontline workers because the children are mostly isolated from family when hospitalized.

Dr. Cornelia Griggs, a pediatric surgery fellow at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, is treating some of those cases at her hospital in the city.

She says many of the children can have only one visitor because the virus is very contagious. Some don’t have any at all because their parents are also sick.

Dr. Griggs issued a call for help on Twitter. She explains donated iPads will help these children stay connected with the outside world and families while they undergo treatment. 

“Some of them only have one parent and that parent needs to work, some have parents who are sick at home and don’t have the ability to be in the hospital and the idea for them to have a hospital is so we have a safe way for them to communicate with families,” Dr. Griggs said.

It’s not only children who get sick that are affected by the coronavirus; it’s also the children of the frontline workers.

Dr. Griggs shared a photo of herself in scrubs, saying, “My babies are too young to read this now. And they’d barely recognize me in my gear. But if they lose me to COVID, I want them to know Mommy tried really hard to do her job.” 

“Those of us working on the frontlines are not just doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists. We’re mothers, we’re daughters, we’re fathers, we’re brothers,” said Dr. Griggs. “Everyone needs to remember this. The lives that we are losing are not just numbers, they are not anonymous, and it’s those on the front lines who really see those faces.”