Healthy 4-year-old in Texas dies from COVID-19, family was unvaccinated | US World News
(Meredith) – A healthy four-year-old girl in Texas died from COVID-19 just one day after showing symptoms.
Kali Cook was a preschooler and had no known preexisting conditions. Kali’s mom Karra Harwood told the Houston Chronicle that Kali died in her sleep at home.
Harwood, who is unvaccinated, tested positive for COVID-19 on Sept. 6. That same day, Kali started showing symptoms of the virus. Just over 24 hours later, Kali died.
“It took her so fast,” Harwood told the Houston Chronicle.
Harwood told The Daily News that she regrets not getting vaccinated.
“I was one of the people that was anti [vaccine], I was against it,” she told The Daily News. “Now, I wish I never was.”
Like all children under 12 years old, Kali was not eligible to be vaccinated. But health officials have stressed the importance of parents with young children getting vaccinated to protect their kids.
Galveston County Local Health Authority Philip Keiser said health officials don’t believe Kali was infected at school. She was last at school Sept. 1, and contract tracing performed showed no students or adults who were in close contact with Kali tested positive for the virus.
Kali is the youngest resident in Galveston County, Texas to die from COVID-19. The next youngest was age 20. According to state data, more than 300 children in Texas are hospitalized with COVID-19 right now.
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