Key West boy’s death wasn’t caused by meningitis — or COVID-19, medical examiner says
A 2-year-old Key West boy who died March 6 did not die from bacterial meningitis as the state health department suspected, the Monroe County Medical Examiner said Friday.
The boy also didn’t die of the novel coronavirus, said Dr. Michael Steckbauer, but said he would not release the cause of death until toxicology reports were completed.
The boy had attended the Childcare Development Center at the Navy’s Sigsbee Park Annex. The Navy shut down the center after the boy’s death and hired an outside agency to disinfect the building.
On March 24, the Naval Air Station Key West announced it had again closed the childcare center, which caters to children from 6 weeks to 5 years old, after a person from the center was listed as a Person Under Investigation and was at home and isolated, said Trice Denny, spokeswoman for the station.
“Cameras at the [center] were used to ensure every contact was documented and notified,” Denny wrote in a Facebook post. “While the CDC is closed, a deep clean will be conducted, and all families and staff will be medically screened over the phone before returning. We did not come to this decision lightly.”
Monroe County had 19 confirmed COVID-19 cases and no deaths as of Friday evening.
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