A 7-year-old boy has become the youngest person to die of COVID-19 in Georgia, U.S.
The state health department said the boy, who is African American, was the youngest victim of the virus in the state and said he had no underlying health conditions.
“Every COVID-19 death we report is tragic, but to lose someone so young is especially heart-breaking,” Dr. Lawton Davis, the Health Director for the Coastal Health District, said in a statement.
“We know that older individuals and those with underlying conditions are at higher risk of complications, but this is a disease everyone should take seriously,” Dr. Davis said, as per WSB-TV Atlanta.
Not much information has been released about the boy. Dr. Carolyn Smallwood, a family physician with Wellstar Health System, said there is still so much we don’t know about the effect this virus has on children.
“The majority of COVID cases in pediatric patients are mild, and while that is encouraging we don’t know the full spectrum of implications,” she added.
The Coastal Health Department warned this is a disease that “everyone should take seriously.”
Students forced to quarantine
Dr. Smallwood said the best way to slow the spread of this potentially deadly disease is to “wear a mask, handwashing and social distancing.”
Meanwhile, dozens of students in five Georgia schools are already having to quarantine after a number of positive cases just days into the new school year.
In Florida, which became the nation’s COVID-19 hotspot last month, at least seven minors have died from Covid-19 including a 9-year-old girl with no underlying medical conditions.
My heart goes out to the family of this 7-year-old boy. Sending support and strength during this horrific time.
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