While the number of positive cases of COVID-19 has stopped increasing at the rapid pace we saw several months ago and the number of deaths has also decreased, there are still hundreds around the country who are impacted by the virus.
Aurea Soto Morales, an 8-year-old from Durham, North Carolina, is the virus’ latest victim.
According to WCNC, the second grade student began feeling ill on May 28. She went for a COVID-19 test and the results came back positive – Aurea’s father, mother, and sister also tested positive.
Shortly after, she had a seizure and was rushed to the hospital.
“It just went down so quickly and I didn’t even get to say goodbye to her,” her sister Jennifer Jano Morales told WRAL.
Aurea experienced swelling in her brain which led to a coma.
Days after Aurea first began feeling sick she died.
Now, her family wants others to know how important it is to continue to take COVID-19 seriously.
“Everyone associates it with old people, as they think they’re the only ones who are going to get it, but that’s not true,” Morales told WNCN. “My sister got it.”
A GoFundMe has been set up for the family to help them with medical expenses and funeral arrangements.
Just because businesses are starting to reopen does not mean we can stop taking precautions. Now we must be even more careful. COVID-19 affects everyone.
Share this as a reminder that we must continue to practice good hygiene and social distancing even as businesses reopen.