In a letter of caution to Peloton users, the chief executive said the company had been aware of “a small handful” of other instances in which children were hurt.An accident involving a Peloton treadmill has left a child dead, the company’s chief executive announced on Thursday.In a letter posted on the company’s website, John Foley, Peloton’s C.E.O. and a co-founder, said that the company, known for its wildly popular interactive stationary bikes, had recently learned of the fatal accident and was aware of “a small handful of incidents” involving children hurt by its Tread+ treadmill.“While we are aware of only a small handful of incidents involving the Tread+ where children have been hurt, each one is devastating to all of us at Peloton, and our hearts go out to the families involved,” Mr. Foley said.The company urged Peloton users to adhere to safety warnings concerning Peloton products, asking members to keep them where children can’t get to them and to store safety keys away from children when the machines are not in use.“There are no words to express the shock and sadness everyone at Peloton feels as a result of this terrible tragedy,” a spokesperson said in a statement.Details about the accident that led to the child’s death were still unclear. The company said it would not release further details, such as when and where it had taken place, “out of respect for the family and their privacy.”The Tread+ operates similarly to a standard treadmill but is outfitted with a 32-inch touch screen that allows users to exercise with help from Peloton instructors and to work out with others in real time. The price starts at $4,295, according to the company website.A spokesperson said the equipment had been “designed and tested” to be used by people who are at least 16 years old and weigh more than 105 pounds.A 2020 study from The American Journal of Emergency Medicine found that most at-home treadmill injuries occurred in children under 16 and that the coronavirus pandemic presented a unique risk for injuries as more adults were working from home and children were taking part in remote learning. Common injuries, the study found, included damage to the hands and fingers, such as friction burns or degloving, where part of the skin tissue detaches from underlying muscle.Throughout the pandemic, Peloton’s popularity has boomed. The company’s value has grown to more than $40 billion during the pandemic as physical gyms have been shuttered and people’s exercise habits have been disrupted.On Thursday, the company’s stock price closed down 4.6 percent amid the news of the fatal treadmill accident.Last year the company faced another setback when it recalled pedals on about 27,000 of its stationary bikes after it received reports that clip-in pedals had caused injuries that required stitches or other medical care.Susan Beachy contributed research.

#masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesRisk Near YouVaccine RolloutNew Variants TrackerAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyFauci Is Giving His Coronavirus Model to the SmithsonianDr. Anthony S. Fauci’s donation of his 3-D virus model to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History comes as museums are working to document the Covid-19 era.“I wanted to pick something that was really meaningful to me and important because I used it so often,” Dr. Anthony S. Fauci said of his decision to give the model to the Smithsonian.Credit…Smithsonian’s National Museum of American HistoryMarch 3, 2021, 5:13 p.m. ETA piece of personal pandemic history belonging to the nation’s top infectious disease expert has found a new home at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, presented his three-dimensional model of the coronavirus to the museum’s national medicine and science collections on Tuesday at a ceremony that was conducted by videoconference.“I wanted to pick something that was really meaningful to me and important because I used it so often,” Dr. Fauci said in an interview on Wednesday about his decision to give the model to the museum.The model, which he said was made with a 3-D printer at the National Institutes of Health, is a blue sphere studded with spikes replicating the spiked proteins that can latch onto cells in our airways, allowing the virus to slip inside. Dr. Fauci said he had often used it as a visual aid when briefing members of Congress and former President Donald J. Trump about the virus.“It’s a really phenomenally graphic way to get people to understand,” he said.Dr. Fauci announced the donation and showed off the model as he was being awarded the museum’s Great Americans medal on Tuesday for his leadership of the nation’s Covid-19 response and his contributions to the fights against other infectious diseases, such as AIDS.The National Museum of American History said its curators had been collecting items from the pandemic for a future exhibition, called “In Sickness and in Health,” that will examine “more than 200 years of medicine in the U.S. including Covid-19.” The museum has also been accepting digital submissions from the public through the platform “Stories of 2020.”The spread of the coronavirus has presented an opportunity for museums and institutions across the country to document a pandemic as it is happening. Many have done the same with the protests against racial injustice that played out across much of the country last year.The Coronavirus Outbreak