Hundreds of people tuned in to a livestream of funeral services for a 5-year-old Detroit girl who was Michigan’s youngest victim of the coronavirus pandemic
DETROIT —
Hundreds of people tuned in to a livestream of funeral services Thursday for a 5-year-old Detroit girl who was Michigan’s youngest victim of the coronavirus pandemic.
Services at a Detroit funeral home were livestreamed due to social distancing rules designed to prevent the spread of the virus, which has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 Detroit residents.
Skylar Herbert’s family arrived with a police escort and a few family members were seated in the funeral home’s chapel. Each wore a mask.
Skylar died April 19 at a hospital. Following her death, Mayor Mike Duggan called her “a real daughter of the city of Detroit.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer paid tribute during one of her daily media briefings on the pandemic to Skylar’s mother, LaVondria Herbert, who has been a Detroit police officer for 25 years, and Skylar’s father, Ebbie, a firefighter of 18 years.
“They’ve been on the front line and they’ve served with honor and integrity,” Whitmer said last week. “They did not deserve to lose their child to this virus. Nobody does.”
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. But it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, for some people, especially older adults and people with existing health problems.
Coronavirus infections leading to death are unusual among children.