STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A “perfectly healthy” 10-year-old girl in Virginia died from the coronavirus (COVID-19) not long after her teacher gave her the job of class “nurse,” the child’s mother claimed.
Teresa Sperry, 10, developed a headache on Sept. 22 and a fever the next day, CNN reported. A day prior to a scheduled COVID-19 test for Sept. 27, Teresa’s symptoms developed into a devastating cough, so her parents took her to the hospital.
After X-rays did not show signs of COVID-19 pneumonia, doctors told the parents to quarantine at home, according to the report.
However, the young girl’s condition soon worsened. Within a day, Teresa stopped breathing, the report said, and was rushed to a local hospital and eventually transferred to Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters Norfolk, where she died from COVID-19 complications.
A positive test came back after her death, reports indicated. The 10-year-old was not yet eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.
“And I want to explain by complications that her heart just gave up,” wrote the girl’s mother, Nicole Sperry, on Facebook. “Our daughter was perfectly healthy,“ adding that the girl “would have continued to be here if people would have stopped sending their sick kids to school.”
Teresa Sperry attended Hillpoint Elementary School in Suffolk, Virginia, and officials at Suffolk Public Schools are now investigating Nicole Sperry’s claims that her daughter was assigned the job of class “nurse” and was required to walk all sick students in her class to the nurses office, the Virginian-Pilot reported.
The district’s policy requires adults to accompany sick children to the nurse’s office, according to the report. It was not immediately clear how Teresa Sperry was exposed to the virus.
“We did everything we could have done and now we’ve lost a part of our hearts,” wrote Nicole Sperry, who is vaccinated along with her husband. “Covid is real and it doesn’t care who it takes.
“Want to know what you can do to honor my lovely girl? Wear a damn mask! Get vaccinated! Social distance! And most importantly stop complaining and keep your sick kids at home,” Nicole Sperry said on Facebook. “Because in the end you will still get to hug yours.”
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