13-year-old Mississippi girl dies of COVID-19
By Ross Adams
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RALEIGH, MS (WAPT) — A Mississippi middle school student has passed away from COVID-19 over the weekend.
A Raleigh High School administrator said 13-year-old Mkayla Robinson had tested positive for the virus.
“She was loved by all of her teachers. She was an honor student, a band student. Everybody says if they had 30 kids in the classroom like her, they have the perfect classroom,” said Smith County Schools Superintendent Nick Hillman.
The eighth-grader passed away early Saturday morning, hours after Gov. Tate Reeves downplayed the impact the virus has on kids.
“For most children, it’s just a case of the sniffles,” Reeves said Friday.
Smith County parents are worried.
“It’s really scary. And for my daughter and my kids to tell me. Get up this morning And say they didn’t want to go to school you know it’s scary,” said parent Sharon Moore.
According to the Mississippi State Department of Health, Robinson is the fifth person under the age of 18 to die during the pandemic.
Parents believe the school district needs to do more to keep kids safe.
“Somebody was sitting beside my kid with COVID, and I’m on my way to school right now to pick up my son. He’s 11 years old. To bring him home to quarantine,” parent Jerome Black said.
School leaders did impose a mask mandate two days after classes started because so many students tested positive for the virus.
Administrators are hoping Robinson‘s tragic death will motivate people to roll up their sleeves and get the shot. Smith county has the state’s second-lowest vaccination rate — just 22%.
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