Florida's Youngest Coronavirus Victim Identified as 9-Year-Old Kimora 'Kimmie' Lynum



Days after returning home, Young-Holmes said Kimmie asked to take a nap one afternoon and never woke up.

"I was shaking her, yelling at her," she remembered. "I was just trying to bring her back. I tried, I tried everything I could to bring her back."

Young-Holmes said her daughter was tested for COVID-19 only after she was pronounced dead.

"After she had passed away, they tested her, and that's when they told me she was positive for COVID," she said, telling WCJB that she has no idea where her daughter contracted the virus. "At this point, I have no idea. I'm just still pretty much stuck in the now."

Kimmie did not have any preexisting health issues that would make her more susceptible to coronavirus, her cousin Dejeon Cain told NBC affiliate First Coast News.

Florida Department of Health said in a report of coronavirus fatalities that Kimmie's illness was not travel-related and she did not have contact with a person known to have COVID-19, the outlet reported.

"She was doing good at one point, and all of a sudden she had a situation with a fever," Cain said. "It hit home, and I think a lot of people out here are not understanding that we have to take this thing seriously."

According to health records, Kimmie is the fifth minor to die from coronavirus in Florida, CNN reported. Prior to her death, the youngest fatalities were an 11-year-old boy in Miami-Dade County and an 11-year-old girl in Broward County.

A GoFundMe campaign was recently created to raise funds for Kimmie's medical bills and funeral expenses.

"Kimora, more affectionately known as 'Kimmie' was a jovial, fun-loving, and free-spirited 9-year-old child," a description for the fundraiser read. "She enjoyed the very simple things in life such as going to the park and making new friends. She was highly sociable, inquisitive and always happy."

As of Monday, there have at least 4,273,400 confirmed cases in the United States, with at least 147,000 deaths from coronavirus-related illnesses, according to a New York Times database.

As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from CDC, WHO, and local public health departments. PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMe to raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, click here.

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