■ Two children and a teenager in New York have died from a possible coronavirus complication.

Cause likely syndrome related to coronavirus

ALBANY, N.Y. — Two children and a teenager have now died in New York state from a possible complication from the coronavirus involving swollen blood vessels and heart problems, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday.

At least 73 children in New York have been diagnosed with symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease — a rare inflammatory condition in children — and toxic shock syndrome. Most of them are toddlers and elementary-age children.

Cuomo announced two more deaths a day after discussing the death of a 5-year-old boy Thursday at a New York City hospital. A 7-year old in Westchester County and a teenager in Suffolk County on Long Island also died. There is no proof that the virus causes the mysterious syndrome.

Cuomo said children had tested positive for COVID-19 or the antibodies but did not show the common symptoms of the virus when they were hospitalized.

“This is the last thing that we need at this time, with all that is going on, with all the anxiety we have, now for parents to have to worry about whether or not their youngster was infected,” Cuomo said at his daily briefing.

New York is helping develop national criteria for identifying and responding to the syndrome at the request of the Centers for Disease Control, Cuomo said.

Children elsewhere in the U.S. have also been hospitalized with the condition, which was also seen in Europe.

Doctors still believe that most children with COVID-19 develop only mild illness.

At least 3,000 U.S. children are diagnosed with Kawasaki disease each year. It is most common in children younger than 6 and in boys.

Symptoms include prolonged fever, severe abdominal pain and trouble breathing.

Cuomo extended New York’s stay-at-home restrictions to June 7, though regions will be able to phase in reopenings sooner if they meet a series of benchmarks.

Cuomo’s new executive order fits in with his previously announced plan to allow regions of the state to begin restarting economic activity after May 15 if they demonstrate progress in taming and tracking the virus, according to administration officials. Some upstate areas hope to begin reopening later this month, though none of the state’s 10 regions had met all seven required benchmarks earlier this week.

John Roca The Associated Press New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo briefs the media Saturday on his state’s latest coronavirus-related deaths.