Coronavirus: 6-year-old girl dies of COVID-19 in Tennessee

A 6-year-old girl has died after being diagnosed with COVID-19 in Tennessee, according to the Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department.

Officials said the girl died Tuesday. In blog posts reviewed by The Jackson Sun, family members identified her as Gigi Morse.

Gigi's mother, Priscilla Morse, said the 6-year-old had been sick in recent days and that after a doctor's appointment Tuesday, a doctor said that she had come down with a viral bug.

“The doctor said … to let her rest and eat as many popsicles and slushies as she wanted,” Priscilla Morse wrote, according to the Sun. “She went to sleep and she died and I don’t even want to breathe anymore without her.”

Priscilla Morse and her husband, David, adopted Gigi from Ukraine in December 2017, when she was 3 years old, according to a profile of the family published by NBC’s “Today” show. She had hydrocephalus, epilepsy and autism, according to “Today.”

“She had such a rough start to her short life, living unloved, unwanted in an orphanage in Ukraine,” David Morse said in a Facebook post reviewed by the Sun. “Severe medical issues. We found her and knew immediately that she had to be our daughter. We brought her home and showed her a love like no other.”

The Morses also have three biological children and two other children adopted from Russia and Bulgaria, “Today” reported.

As of Wednesday, more than 112,000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported across Tennessee, resulting in 1,117 deaths, according to state health officials.

The United States leads the world with the most coronavirus cases and the highest death toll. Since the start of the pandemic, officials have confirmed more than 4.7 million infections and reported more than 157,000 deaths nationwide, according to numbers compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

More than 18.6 million COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide and more than 702,000 people have died of the viral infection, according to Johns Hopkins.

Cox Media Group