Galveston County in Texas recently announced that a 4-year-old pre-K student at K.E. Little Elementary School died from COVID-19 Tuesday.
The announcement first came from the county health district Thursday that said that the girl “was 10 years old or younger.”
In a separate announcement, Dr. Philip Keiser, from the Galveston County Health Authority, confirmed that the girl was four years old, ABC 13 reported.
The health officials from the county also said that she is the youngest casualty and the first-ever pediatric death from the coronavirus in the entire Galveston County. They also shared that they do not believe that she contracted the virus from school as the other members of her family had also tested positive from COVID-19.
According to the reports, the girl from Bacliff has not been hospitalized prior to her death as well. It was unknown whether she had other underlying health conditions that put her at greater risk.
The announcement of Galveston County’s first pediatric death came just three weeks after Houston reported its first pediatric COVID death.
The unvaccinated boy from Houston was believed to be between 10 and 19 years old with no underlying health conditions. He died in a Houston hospital in July.
Houston health officials said that while they are certain that the boy was their first pediatric COVID death since he tested positive for the virus, they are unsure whether he was infected with a COVID variant.
The Galveston County Health Department (GCHD) also posted the announcement via Twitter, confirming the first COVID-related death of a child in the county.
The full statement can be seen below:
