(L.A.) Jesse Tapia, 1, Died in a Hospital

Case Number: 2018-01071

Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a one-year-old Latin American male that occurred in a hospital.

The coroner’s office identified the baby boy as Jesse Tapia.

Manner of Death: Undetermined

Cause of Death: Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood

Other Significant Conditions: History of Prematurity, History of Fever, Coronavirus Detected

RIP JESSE TAPIA (January 13, 2017 – February 2, 2018)

Formal pronouncement of death was made on Friday at 10:37 p.m.

Sudden Unexplained Death or SUDC is the sudden and unexpected death of a child between 1 and 18 years of age, which remains unexplained after a thorough investigation is conducted. Under one year of age, it would be called Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS.

This is the earliest case in the coroner’s database that mentions a coronavirus. Clearly, the coronavirus listed here is not COVID-19. It may have been HCoV-NL63, which was first identified in 2014.

We do not know how recently the infant had his vaccinations.