COVID: 12-year-old dies just two days after testing positive

Getting infected by the coronavirus is dangerous because it’s unpredictable. Some get mild symptoms, a number of patients do not experience any side effects at all, and the virus can even cause severe and fatal infections in others. So far, most of those lost their lives to the virus are either older people, or those who have other underlying health conditions. Very rarely has a child been a victim of this deadly disease.

Tragic death

However, on 7 June, 12-year-old Fabiana Zopelli tragically died, two days after she was tested positive for COVID. The schoolgirl began exhibiting symptoms a week prior, and they progressively worse as the days continued.

On 1 June, she was dealing with a minor cough, but then she started vomiting and also developed a rash. Concerned, her mother took her to the Royal Oldham Hospital two days later, where she was put on a ventilator.

According to Mail Online, they had conducted a COVID test the very same day, but it took another two full days for the hospital to receive her results. When they did, they found out she tested positive for COVID.

Her condition continued to deteriorate over the next week, and she had to be transferred twice to hospitals that could give her the resources she needed. First to Manchester Children’s Hospital, and then again to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool. Unfortunately, just as she was leaving to go to Liverpool, Fabiana had a cardiac arrest and passed away.

Worst COVID case

The medical professionals that were attending her said it was the worst case they’d witnessed in a child. Prakash Kamath, paediatric consultant, said:

We have never seen children suffering from Covid complications like Fabiana did.

We believed she would turn a corner and get better.

I have never seen any child transferred for intensive care in the last 18 months. This is a very unusual case in a child.

While Fibiana was considered a healthy, she was previously diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called floating-harbor syndrome. It’s a syndrome in which a person has delayed bone age, delayed speech development, skeletal deformities, and short stature. Experts believe that while it may have contributed to her worsening condition, the syndrome did not lead to her death.