NORFOLK, Va. — Thursday morning, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Health's Eastern Region said another child had died from COVID-19.
Larry Hill said the child was between the ages of 0 and 9, but he didn't share other details about the child except to say that the child died recently.
The Eastern Region includes the Seven Cities in Hampton Roads, as well as Poquoson, James City County, Williamsburg, York County, Franklin, Isle of Wight County, and Southampton County. It also covers the Eastern Shore, the Middle Peninsula, and the Northern Neck.
As of Thursday, VDH's COVID-19 dashboard showed only one death of a child 9 or younger in the Eastern Region. The death was in Virginia Beach.
“My heart goes out to these families. I don’t think you ever recover from your child dying," said Dr. Nancy Welch, who is the Chesapeake and interim Virginia Beach Health Department Director. Welch said more younger children are getting sick from COVID-19.
“And we’ve known for several weeks the increasing percentage of these children less than nine who are going to the emergency department. They were the main increasing portion. This was coming down the road. They couldn’t be vaccinated but adults can," said Dr. Welch.
This news comes just days after a 10-year-old girl from Suffolk died of complications from COVID-19.
“The Eastern region is a very large urban populated area so I think that that is certainly a factor as to why we have recognized these numbers," said Welch.
The parents of Teresa Sperry said the disease attacked her heart, which she never had problems with before. She passed away on Sept. 27. They're still processing the loss of their little girl.
"She had such a caring heart and didn’t want to see anybody hurt and upset and wanted to make sure everybody had a friend," said Teresa's mother, Nicole.
Nicole said she thinks Teresa caught the virus helping other sick children at school.
In late July, a 17-year-old girl from Norfolk died of COVID-19 just days before she was scheduled to be vaccinated.
Schwanda Corprew, a quiet girl who was the youngest of seven sisters, started having headaches and some body aches a few days before she passed away at home.
Her death led to a community vaccine drive where some of her peers got vaccinated against COVID-19 in her memory.
“My message is we've had too many families experience this heartbreak. I don't want any more families to experience that both as a mother and a pediatrician. I just don't want any other families to experience that. It's hard," said Welch.