Winter is coming:care of the febrile children in the time of COVID-19

摘要

In the pediatric emergency department(PED),winter seems to arrive earlier each year.After the broken bones and lac-erations of the summer,the winter season brings fevers and respiratory illnesses.Fever is our bread and butter-it is the most common reason for PED visits[1].Fever phobia is ingrained in our society[2].In the pre-vaccine era,a febrile child was cause for concern;those who were ill-appearing had high rates of bacterial meningitis,and even well-appear-ing children could not be rapidly discharged.Occult bac-teremia was a common condition in well-appearing young febrile children and frequently required laboratory evalua-tion and treatment with empiric antibiotics[3].