5-Year-Old Daughter of First Responders Dies from COVID-19; First Child to Die in Michigan

Five-year-old Skylar Herbert, daughter of two first responders, has become the first child in Michigan to die from COVID-19. According to Fox News, Skylar tested positive for the virus in March. Later on, he developed meningoencephalitis – a complication that caused swelling of brain tissue and a lesion on her frontal lobe, said her parents. “She spent two weeks on a ventilator before being taken off on Sunday,” said the report.

“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.

According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, until now, the youngest person in Michigan on record to die with COVID-19 was 20 years old.

Skylar was originally released from Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, just one day after testing positive. Her symptoms were believed to be mild, as reported by Fox News. The family went back to the hospital after her 46-year-old father, Ebbie Herbert, developed a cough and shortness of breath.

She was then admitted to the pediatric ICU at the hospital. There, “she was given a lumbar puncture and the family learned of her meningitis condition,” reported Fox News.

Losing a Child

A spokesman for Beaumont Health confirmed Skylar's death. The spokesman said 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 reported that after Skylar was admitted, doctors at Beaumont Royal Oak treated her. She started showing signs of improvement, such as not complaining about her head hurting and being able to get up to use the bathroom. However, she began relapsing.

“She was really in and out as far as sleeping,” LaVondria Herbert said. “They just cut out a small hole in the front of her head and stuck the tube in so that the fluid could drain.”

Skylar was put on the ventilator the next day.

“She was the type of girl that would just run up to you and jump in your arms and hug you,” LaVondria then said about her daughter.

According to Skylar’s family, they have no idea how she contracted the virus. She had been in the house for weeks with no previous health issues.

Her father Ebbie has been a Detroit firefighter for 18 years. Meanwhile, her mother has been a police officer in the city for 25 years.

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