An 8-year-old has died following complications from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19.)
Aurea Soto Morales, known as “Yoshi,” passed away last Monday at UNC hospital in Durham, North Carolina, after she tested positive for COVID-19, her sister Jennifer Morales informed the local news outlet WNCN.
Jennifer (who tested positive for the virus) said how she and Yoshi, a second-grader at Creekside Elementary, both began to feel ill early in the week.
“My sister and I started to get the COVID-19 symptoms,” said Jennifer.
Jennifer then said how her and Yoshi learned how they had COVID-19 later in the week — days after their parents also tested positive for the virus.
Last Friday, Yoshi had a seizure and was rushed to the hospital. The very next day, “her brain started to swell up and she went into a coma,” before she died the following Monday, Jennifer said.
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The family wants the United States to take the novel coronavirus – which has infected over 1.8 million people in the country – way more 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,” Jennifer said. “My sister got it.”
Jennifer along with her loved ones are requesting for others to continue wearing masks and stay home if you are feeling sick. The family also wishes businesses to wipe down surfaces and limit the number of people who are allowed inside at a time.
“Every little thing they do may save lives,” Jennifer said. “We don’t want other parents to suffer from what we are going through.”
A GoFundMe page was created by the Soto Morales family on Tuesday to help cover medical expenses and funeral arrangements for Yoshi. And as of Wednesday evening, the page has raised over $43,000.
According to the New York Times, North Carolina has at least 31,000 cases of coronavirus and 971 deaths as of Thursday afternoon.
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