A four-year-old girl has become the youngest person to die of COVID-19 in Texas’s Galveston County, after several members of her family were infected.
Kali Cook died in her sleep within hours of showing symptoms of the virus in a highly unusual case. Her mother, Karra Harwood who recalled how she was against vaccination said;
‘I was one of the people that was anti (vaccine), I was against it.
‘Now, I wish I never was.’
Harwood also revealed that her daughter had no underlying health conditions but did tend to get sicker than her siblings. The family were quarantining because of COVID infections, but it is unclear how many of them were positive and when exactly they were diagnosed.
The distraught mother who told newsmen that the family was out of work because of COVID and ‘overly stressed and hurting’, said she noticed her daughter had a fever around 2am and gave her medicine. However the girl died by 7am.
Harwood added;
‘I ended up getting Covid and was diagnosed on Monday (September 6).
‘I came home and was isolated. I tried to stay away from her and didn’t want her and my other kids to get it.’
Kali’s death comes amid reports of an increasing number of Delta variant cases being observed in children in the US.
The minor had not tested positive for the virus, but was confirmed to be carrying it when she was examined by the Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office, local media reported.
Daily News reported that the deceased might have contracted the virus at home as she has not been been to school since September 1 or come in to contact with any positive cases there.
Ms Harwood’s five-month-old baby has also been infected with the virus. She said;
“I’ve taken him to the hospital every night since because I feel like they’re not getting better, and I’m terrified.”
A report from the American Academy of Pediatrics stated that children made up at least 0.27 per cent of all Covid-19 deaths in 43 US states. In August, the city of Houston reported its first paediatric Covid-19 death with no underlying health conditions. Kali’s family has set up a GoFundMe page to gather expenses for her funeral.
