Michigan Girl Dies Of COVID 19

Source: Tom Merton / Getty

There’s sad news to report out of Detroit concerning coronavirus and a child.

A 5-year-old in Michigan has become the youngest in the state to die from COVID-19. The parents of Skylar Herbert confirmed her death, noting that she tested positive for COVID-19 in March and later developed a rare form of meningitis, brain swelling, and a lesion on her frontal lobe.

Little Skylar initially complained to her parents who are both first responders of a headache and after testing positive, she was put on a ventilator. Her mother told The Detroit News that the family recently decided to take Skylar off of it.

“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,” said LaVondria Herbert, Skylar’s mother, on Sunday.

A spokesman for Beaumont Health where Skylar was being treated confirmed Skylar’s death in a statement.

“The loss of a child, at any time, under any circumstances, is a tragedy. 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.”

The Detroit News reports that Skylar is the youngest person on record to die with COVID-19 in the state, prior to her the youngest was 20. A 6-week old baby in Connecticut is believed to be the youngest person to die from coronavirus.

More than 31,000 Michiganders have been infected and 2,391 have died.