As Randy puts it, “Yikes.”
Boy Dies Of Dry Drowning After Leaving Pool And Walking Home
Johnny Jackson, a 10-year-old American boy from South Carolina, died at home on Sunday from “dry drowning” more than an hour after going swimming and walking home with his mother. The sad event highlights a little known danger that parents and child carers should be aware of, that drowning can kill hours after being submersed in water.
Not sure that the symptoms given are all that helpful:
Dr Daniel Rauch, pediatrician at New York University Langone Medical Center, who spoke to Meredith Vieira on the TODAY show, said there are three important signs that parents and carers should look out for: difficulty breathing, extreme tiredness, and changes in behaviour. All three symptoms result from the brain not getting enough oxygen because of water in the lungs.
I can imagine either a vigorous day at the beach or swimming pool would provoke both extreme tiredness and “changes in behavior.” And since a certain percentage of these cases take place after time in the bathtub (!), if the kid goes to sleep immediately thereafter, there’s no opportunity to observe anything of the sort.
In other words, it’s possibly something worth bearing in mind, but — Thrilling! Headlines! aside — not something to spend a huge amoutn of time worrying about.