ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Within the walls of John’s Hopkin’s All Children’s Hospital in downtown St. Petersburg, the world is changing.


What You Need To Know


“It’s pretty amazing actually. What started as a conversation over coffee, within two or three days turned into a grant application and everybody just giving their 100 percent effort into making sure this happens,” said Dr. Anthony Sochet with John’s Hopkin’s All Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Sochet is one of six doctors at John’s Hopkin’s All Children’s Hospital leading the nationwide study.

He says medical professionals are learning new things about the Covid-19 virus each day, including how it affects a patient’s blood.

“It causes inflammation of the blood vessels, and as vessels in the blood and factors within the blood get inflamed, they form clots, and these clots can be life-threatening and often are the cause of death in patients with Covid-19,” said Dr. Sochet.

So, to combat the blood clots, many patients are given what’s known as an anticoagulation medication.

With adults, he says, they know the medication is effective.

But with kids battling Covid-19, there are still a lot of unanswered questions.

“We’re trying to tackle two birds with one stone. We’re trying to make sure it’s safe in children, effective in children, and also assessing it in this very unique and at risk population,” said Dr. Sochet.

A simple blood test is all they need to study the efficiency of the medicine in children with the coronavirus, but Dr. Sochet says it could provide answers doctor’s need to get ahead of the virus.

“That’s where rigorous research has to come into play. Where science has to demand that we study things well, not just do them but do them make sure them doing them safely and appropriately,” said Dr. Sochet. 

About 15-20 hospitals nationwide are participating in the study, which is expected to last about a year.

The study is now in phase two, and began enrolling patients about a week ago.