9-year-old girl dies from coronavirus. She is the fifth, youngest child to die in Florida
A 9-year-old girl has died from the novel coronavirus in Putnam County, Florida, making her the youngest to die from the virus in the state. Four other children have passed, health officials say.
On Wednesday, the Florida Department of Health reported 139 deaths in the state — the 9-year-old was one of them. Data shows her case was not travel-related and that she is the first child to die from the virus in North Florida.
The child’s name has not yet been released by authorities. It is unclear if she had any underlying conditions.
In Florida as of Wednesday night, 28,087 children have contracted the virus, 282 have been hospitalized and five have died, according to state data. The other four deaths were a 17-year-old boy in Pasco County, a 16-year-old girl in Lee County, a 11-year-old boy in Miami-Dade County and a 11-year-old girl in Broward County.
The DOH has reported 379,619 total coronavirus cases in the state and a resident death toll of 5,345.
Health officials initially did not believe children were high risk when it came to COVID-19, but researchers say kids can transmit the virus and those with underlying medical conditions are susceptible to severe symptoms. Children can also develop multi-system inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C, which is a rare inflammatory disorder believed to be linked to COVID-19.
The state’s COVID-19 pediatric report from July 17 says 14 children have had MIS-C.
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 10:41 PM.
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