6-year-old girl with coronavirus dies, Florida’s youngest victim of the disease

One of the coronavirus fatalities Florida reported on Friday was a 6-year-old girl, the youngest victim of the disease in the state.

It’s unknown whether the girl, from Hillsborough County. had traveled, according to the state Department of Health.

She’s the eighth person younger than 18 to succumb to the disease in Florida.

Previously, the state’s youngest virus victim had been a 9-year-old Putnam County girl who died July 18. Kimora “Kimmie” Lynum had no known underlying health conditions before her mother took her to the hospital with a fever, Wink News reported.

The first week of July, two 11-year-olds died, a girl in Broward County and a boy in Miami-Dade County.

The four remaining minor victims were two 16-year-olds — one each in Miami-Dade and Lee counties — and two 17-year-olds, in Manatee and Pasco counties.

Florida added 119 total virus fatalities on Friday; 10,168 Florida residents are now dead.

The number of children in Florida with COVID-19 more than doubled in a month, mirroring a national trend, CNN reported last week.

The news comes as children are beginning the school year, in some cases in person.

The Orange County teacher’s union said more than 190 district employees tested positive from early June through Wednesday.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has been hammering home his belief that there’s very little risk of infection to school-age children. During an August 10 media event, he repeated statements about coronavirus being less of a risk than seasonal influenza.

DeSantis has been insistent about the importance of children returning to the classroom in person.