After spending two weeks on a ventilator, 5-year-old Skylar Herbert became the first child in Michigan to die due to coronavirus complications. Detroit News reports that Herbert, who complained she felt under the weather to her parents roughly a month ago, tested positive for COVID-19 in March. Shortly after, she developed a rare form of meningitis and suffered from brain swelling.
"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 her mother, LaVondria Herbert. Both of her parents are first responders. Prior to her death, the youngest person to die of coronavirus in the state was 20.
"The loss of a child, at any time, under any circumstances, is a tragedy," added a Beaumont Royal Oak hospital spokesperson. "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."
Doctors said that she started to improve earlier this month, but she relapsed sometime after and had to be put on a ventilator. She was first taken to a pediatrician on March 23 after she complained of a headache, but at the time she only tested positive for strep throat.
The news of Herbert's death comes just after hundreds took to the streets across the state to protest the stay home orders of governor Gretchen Whitmer. "I want to say thank you to the governor for making people go home," added LaVondria Herbert.
