“A 5-year-old Detroit girl dies of COVID-19, becoming the first child to die in Michigan”, Detroit Free Press
Tesa Baldas and Keith Matheny, Apr 21, 2020
DETROIT – A 5-year-old Detroit girl has died of the novel coronavirus, becoming the first child in the state to die of the pathogen that has now infected more than 31,000 Michiganders and claimed the lives of 2,391.
The victim is Skylar Herbert, who on Sunday became the youngest person in Michigan to die of COVID-19, according to Michigan Health Department statistics. Up until now, the state’s youngest victim was 20; the oldest 107, with the average age being 73.
Beaumont Hospital confirmed Skylar’s death late Sunday night.
“The loss of a child, at any time, under any circumstances, is a tragedy,” Beaumont said in a statement. “We are heartbroken that COVID-19 has taken the life of a child. We extend our deepest sympathy to Skylar’s family and all others who have lost a loved one to this virus.”
According to the Detroit News, which was first to report Skylar’s death, the girl tested positive for COVID-19 in March after initially complaining of a headache: her parents took her to the pediatrician, where she tested positive for strep throat and was sent home on antibiotics.
But the headaches were excruciating so they took her to the hospital, where she tested positive for the virus and later developed a rare form of meningitis and brain swelling. She died on Sunday at Royal Oak Beaumont after spending two weeks on a ventilator.
“We decided to take her off the ventilator today because her improvement had stopped, the doctors told us that it was possible she was brain dead, and we basically just knew she wasn’t coming back to us,” LaVondria Herbert, Skylar’s mother, told the Detroit News.
The girl’s mom is a Detroit police officer; her a father a firefighter.
Both are now desperately hoping for a cure so that other parents don’t have to lose a child as they did.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan called Skylar’s death one of the “saddest” moments in the city’s ongoing fight with COVID-19.