5-year-old daughter of first responders dies of COVID-19, marking Michigan’s youngest death from pandemic

A 5-year-old daughter of two first responders is believed to be the youngest person with COVID-19 to have died in Michigan.

The Detroit News reported that Skylar Herbert, the daughter of a city police officer and firefighter, died Sunday after spending two weeks on a ventilator. Before Skylar’s death, the youngest person believed to have died from coronavirus in Michigan was 20.

“She was the type of girl that would just run up to you and jump in your arms and hug you,” LaVondria Herbert, her mother, told the news outlet. “It didn’t matter what she was doing, she would stop what she was doing and tell me she loved me like 20 times a day.”

Officials at Beaumont Health, which owns the hospital at which Skylar died, confirmed the young girl’s death and offered condolences to her parents 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,” said the health system.

Michigan has reported more than 32,000 cases of coronavirus and 2,500 deaths, according to the newest figures released Monday.