Jacksonville, 8, dies of coronavirus syndrome, the family says

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Friends and family are mourning the loss of an 8-year-old girl from Jacksonville after she died early Saturday morning from a COVID-19 syndrome.

Deaurra Nealy was a second grade student at Twin Lakes Academy Elementary. She was described by the family as a loving, caring little girl who was a good student.

“She tried to be great in everything, in her grades. He was 100 and 95 years old and thought he was not good enough. That’s the kind of person he was, “said Dearick Nealy, Deaurra’s father. “He wanted to pick up people and light the room when he entered. I mean, he inspired so many people in such a short time. I just knew he was just a perfect kid. “

According to her father, Deaurra died just days after the initial signs of multisystem inflammatory syndrome or MIS-C, which is a disease in children that usually follows an infection or exposure to coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dearick said her child’s tests came back, showing she was negative for the virus, but she also showed that she was infected at some point.

“A perfectly healthy baby who only comes in for a normal stomach ache and a negative COVID test,” he said. “And then her fever wouldn’t break.”

As MIS-C develops, according to the CDC, parts of the body can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.

“Unfortunately, this is a syndrome that is quite pronounced when children have it,” said Dr. Jonathan Kantor of the Penn Center for Epidemiology. “Again, it is thought to be somehow a reaction to the body, a kind of inflammatory reaction, but it is not very well understood exactly what mediates it.”

The CDC says of the syndrome: “We do not know why some children became ill with MIS-C and others did not. We also do not know whether children with certain health conditions are more likely to receive MIS-C. These are among the many questions the CDC is working on to try to understand. ”

“The key message is that’s why it’s so important for us to take COVID-19 seriously in every population,” Kantor said.

Deaurra’s father said he wanted to warn other families, urging everyone to follow safety guidelines.

“Many people are told that COVID-19 does not affect children. And so, many people become lazy with simple sanitary measures, such as masks and hand sanitizer – just something simple, ”he said. “It’s to help you not pass this on to anyone else.”

The family started a GoFundMe campaign to help with medical costs.