Pediatricians across North Texas are on the lookout for signs of an inflammatory illness linked to COVID-19 in children.
The CDC put out the advisory Thursday after a handful of children have been hospitalized with high fever and organ complications.
Now, doctors at the leading pediatric system in North Texas are urging parents to take action if needed.
At the main campus of Children's Health in Dallas, workers stay behind plexiglass as they register visitors.
They're just two of the critical safety changes made inside the hospital.
"They're going to be offered a universal mask and asked them to wear this mask the whole time they're in the hospital," said Executive Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer of Children's Health Tammy Webb.
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Webb said safety is paramount as the hospital prepares as best it can during a pandemic that changes almost daily.
The latest information directly involves the most vulnerable population. Health experts warn of a possible link between COVID and a toxic inflammatory complication.
Symptoms of this illness include fever, rash, red-eye, and abdominal pain and some are similar to other rare illnesses, like Kawasaki Disease.
"Very rarely do we see it, even in older children and it's rarely seen in adults, so there is something about how this virus interacts with individuals and their immune system and their inflammatory system and it seems to be specific for children and not so for adults," said Children's Health Chief of Infectious Disease Dr. Jeffrey Kahn.
The hospital said its more than 2000 nurses are equipped with adequate PPE, with social distancing guidelines in place, where possible.
The new safety measures are in place at all Children's Health campuses as they're meant to protect and to ease concerns for parents, who might be afraid of taking their child to the hospital.
*Map locations are approximate, central locations for the city and are not meant to indicate where actual infected people live.
