A 6-year-old girl has become the youngest person known to die of COVID-19 in Florida. Eight children under the age of 18 years old have died of the virus in Florida, according to the health department’s pediatric report.
The child was a resident of Hillsborough County and died of coronavirus this week, the Florida Department of Health reported Friday. It is unknown if her case was travel-related or if she had contact with a known case of the virus.
Since March, 47,489 Florida residents under the age of 18 have tested positive for the virus. Nearly 600 of those patients were hospitalized.
Governor Ron DeSantis did not immediately respond to CBS News’ request for comment on the girl’s death.
More than 7,000 positive cases among children occurred in the last two weeks alone. Before Friday’s announcement, the state’s youngest death was a 9-year-old girl with no known underlying health conditions in Putnam County in July.
The other child deaths were an 11-year-old girl in Broward County, an 11-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl in Dade County, a 16-year-old girl in Lee County, a 17-year-old boy in Manatee County and a 17-year-old boy in Pasco County.
Last week, new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the number and rate of coronavirus cases in children in the U.S. have been “steadily increasing” between March and July.
The CDC said that transmission of the virus among kids may have been lower in the spring and summer due to strict stay-at-home orders, and warned that trends are likely to change after the return to in-person learning and other activities.
Florida added 4,730 new positive cases on Friday, bringing the state’s total to 593,286 — the second-highest in the country, behind California. The state also reported an additional 119 deaths on Friday, for a total of 10,168.
