A four-year-old girl died sleeping in her Texas home one day after she and her unvaccinated parents contracted COVID-19.
Bacliff’s Kali Cook became COVID’s youngest death in Galveston County since the pandemic began, and now her parents regret her decision not to get vaccinated against the virus.
‘I was one of those people who was anti [vaxx]“I was against it,” Mother Karra Harwood said. “Now, I hope it never was.”
Harwood told The Daily News in Galveston that her daughter had no diagnosis of immune disorders or other health conditions, but that she tends to get sicker than her siblings.
Kali Cook, 4, was the youngest person to die from COVID-19 in Galveston County, Texas.
Kali’s mother, Karra Harwood, went into quarantine after contracting the virus on Monday. It quickly spread throughout the family, claiming Kali’s life the next day
Most of the family was in quarantine after Harwood tested positive for the virus on Monday and had to be removed from the family.
Despite his efforts, the virus spread rapidly and infected his fiancé and 5-month-old son, who had to be taken to hospital.
On Tuesday around two in the morning, Harwood noticed that Kali had a fever, so he gave her some medicine and helped her go back to sleep.
At 7 a.m., when Harwood and her fiancé left for work, Kali had died.
But Kali’s condition continued to worsen and by 7am she was already dead.
“He died asleep,” Harwood said.
Kali, who had just started early childhood education, is among the 466 Galveston residents who lost their lives due to COVID, and is the first resident under the age of 20 to succumb to the virus.
Kali is among the 466 Galveston residents who lost their lives due to COVID
Galveston County Local Health Authority Philip Keizer described the death as a tragedy that underpins the need for more vaccines and precaution during this phase of the pandemic.
“That’s terrible, but I think people need to know,” Keizer said.
“It’s very important, if your kids are sick, not to say, ‘Oh, they’ll be fine.’ ‘If your kids are sick, go get medical attention.”
Harwood was confident that sharing his daughter’s story would change opinions about COVID.
She encourages people to understand that, although statistically rare, children can die from COVID and are susceptible as vaccines are only available to those over 12 years of age.
Harwood’s mother, Terena Pike, had previously posted skepticism about the vaccine, but now Harwood said she and her fiancé, who she says has lung disease, were considering getting vaccinated.
The family also started a GoFundMe to help pay for Kali’s funeral costs.
“We are all broken and lost and we are just trying to figure out how to get out of it [through] this life without its light, ”Harwood wrote on the site.
Neither Karra nor her fiancé were vaccinated against COVID-19. He now says they both plan to get vaccinated after the virus killed their daughter and hospitalized their son.
Kali enjoying a meal with her grandmother, Terena Pike, who spoke out against the vaccine
Kali’s grandmother made posts on social media questioning the effectiveness of the COVID vaccine
Kali’s joins more than 60,000 jeans that have died for COVID, as the delta variant continues to sweep the Lone Star state.
The Texas State Department of Health Services reported nearly 20,000 new COVID cases and 400 new deaths Friday.
The rise in the delta had also brought domestic daily cases of COVID-19 to nearly 300,000 in August, and although cases began to decline in September, the United States had experienced a dramatic new rise on Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 163,000 new cases and nearly 1,650 new deaths nationwide.
The American Academy of Pediatrics reported that 200,000 children tested positive for COVID-19 in the week of August 26, the second highest weekly total recorded during the pandemic.
Children also accounted for more than 19,000 of the 812,000 hospitalizations recorded that week. Although weekday totals increased, it was at a much lower rate than 50% the previous week.
In September, about 0.04 of every 100,000 children 17 years of age or younger were hospitalized for COVID-19.
According to the CDC, more than 75% of vaccine-eligible adults in the U.S. have received at least one punch.
