Coronavirus US: Tennessee girl, 6, dies from infection

A six-year-old Tennessee girl who tested positive for coronavirus has died after a doctor told her parents ‘she had a viral bug and to let her eat as many popsicles and slushies as she wanted’.

Gigi Morse died Tuesday, making her the first child killed by the virus in Madison County as well as one of the youngest fatalities across the whole of the US. 

Her devastated parents told of their heartache after they put their adopted daughter, who suffered from epilepsy and had autism, down for a nap and she never woke up again. 

The tragedy comes as COVID-19 cases continue to soar across Tennessee and it marked a grim record for the highest number of deaths in a single day Thursday.

Gigi Morse (pictured), a six-year-old Tennessee girl who tested positive for coronavirus, has died after a doctor told her parents 'she had a viral bug and to let her eat as many popsicles and slushies as she wanted'

Gigi Morse (pictured), a six-year-old Tennessee girl who tested positive for coronavirus, has died after a doctor told her parents ‘she had a viral bug and to let her eat as many popsicles and slushies as she wanted’

Gigi’s distraught mom Priscilla Morse announced the little girl’s death in a blog post where she said she had been ill for several days, reported the Jackson Sun.

Morse said she took her daughter to a doctor’s appointment Tuesday and was told she had a ‘viral bug’ and needed to rest.   

She said she put Gigi down for a nap when they returned.  

‘The doctor said she had a viral bug and to let her rest and eat as many popsicles and slushies as she wanted,’ she wrote.  

‘She went to sleep and she died and I don’t even want to breathe anymore without her.’

The little girl was found unresponsive by her older sibling who performed CPR on her before the emergency services arrived and took her to the hospital where she died.  

David Morse, Gigi’s father, paid tribute to his daughter in a heartbreaking Facebook post where he told how the couple had adopted her from Ukraine at the age of three and ‘showed her a love like no other’. 

Gigi Morse (pictured) died Tuesday, making her the first child killed by the virus in Madison County as well as one of the youngest fatalities across the whole of the US

Her devastated parents told of their heartache after they put their adopted daughter (pictured), who suffered from epilepsy and had autism, down for a nap and she never woke up again

Gigi Morse (pictured) died Tuesday, making her the first child killed by the virus in Madison County as well as one of the youngest fatalities across the whole of the US. Her devastated parents told of their heartache after they put their adopted daughter, who suffered from epilepsy and had autism, down for a nap and she never woke up again

The tragedy comes as COVID-19 cases continue to soar across Tennessee and it marked a grim record for the highest number of deaths in a single day Thursday

The tragedy comes as COVID-19 cases continue to soar across Tennessee and it marked a grim record for the highest number of deaths in a single day Thursday

‘She had such a rough start to her short life, living unloved, unwanted in an orphanage in Ukraine,’ he wrote.  

‘Severe medical issues. We found her and knew immediately that she had to be our daughter. We brought her home and showed her a love like no other.’

‘She learned her own version of English, but we understood. She would sing Disney songs and nursery rhymes perfectly. 

‘She would give me kisses and then say ‘more,’ and we would kiss again and she would say ‘more’ again.

He added: ‘I got to kiss my Gigi yesterday on the last time I would see her alive and we did the ‘more.’ I just love her so much. We are all so devastated. She now walks with Jesus. No more epilepsy, no more autism. She is my heart.’ 

Jackson-Madison County School System Superintendent Marlon King paid tribute to Gigi, a student at East Elementary School, in a news release saying she had an ‘unmistakable spirit’ and was ‘adored and cherished by us all’. 

Jackson-Madison County School System Superintendent Marlon King paid tribute to Gigi, a student at East Elementary School, saying she had an 'unmistakable spirit' and was 'adored and cherished by us all'

Jackson-Madison County School System Superintendent Marlon King paid tribute to Gigi, a student at East Elementary School, saying she had an ‘unmistakable spirit’ and was ‘adored and cherished by us all’

The little girl is one of the youngest Americans to be killed by COVID-19, with data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recording that 45 children aged under 15 have died since the pandemic touched down on US soil.    

Her death comes as cases continue to surge across Tennessee, with another 2,252 infections announced Thursday taking the tally to 116,350. 

Another 42 people have been killed by the virus in the last day, marking the deadliest day on record for the state and taking the death toll to 1,186.   

Across the US, 159,000 people have died and more than 4.8 million have been infected.    

source: dailymail.co.uk