Coronavirus medical mystery: Baby with high viral load puzzles researchers Ariana Eunjung Cha, The Washington Post Feb. 23, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail Among the more than 2,000 youngsters treated for the coronavirus at Children's National Hospital in the District of Columbia, one newborn was unusual. The baby was very sick, for one. Most infected kids barely show symptoms and even the hospitalized ones tend to have mild cases. But the real surprise came when doctors measured the infant's viral load. It was 51,418 times the median of other pediatric patients. And when they sequenced the virus in the baby recently, they found a variant they hadn't seen before.