Family of Durham 7-year-old who died of COVID-19 urges parents to vaccinate their children

Now, the Durham 7-year-old's family is urging other parents to get their children vaccinated against coronavirus so they won't have to have to face the loss of a child.

Yoshi was a bright, bubbly child who loved to sing and was never sick until she contracted the virus at the end of May 2020, her sister, Jennifer Morales, said Thursday.

"It was a sudden thing," Morales said.

The entire family tested positive for the virus, which they believe their father brought home from his job as an essential worker. Yoshi's fever spiked to 107 degrees, and her throat hurt so much she couldn't eat and could only cry in pain, her sister said.

Later that day, Yoshi had a seizure and had to be taken to UNC Children's Hospital, in Chapel Hill. A few hours after being hospitalized, she had a heart attack and went into a coma. The family took her off life support on June 1, 2020.

"From the moment she was taken in the ambulance, that’s the last moment I ever saw her," Morales said. "That shows a lot about what can happen to a child."

Her mother, Araceli Morales, said that it's still hard to talk about Yoshi's death a year and a half later.

Creekside Elementary School, where Yoshi was in the second grade, has a memorial to her that the family sometimes visits to leave flowers.

Jennifer Morales said she wishes pediatric coronavirus vaccines were available early last year, saying Yoshi "absolutely" would have gotten her shots if she had had the opportunity.

"It’s a great thing that we finally have another way to keep children safe, another way so parents don’t have to say good-bye unexpectedly," she said, noting that the entire family is fully vaccinated.

Her family hopes other parents can learn from their heartbreak and get their own children vaccinated, Jennifer Morales said.

"It’s the best way to keep your children safe," she said. "It’s better to get vaccinated than having to get COVID, because nobody knows what’s going to happen to you. It’s unpredictable."

Durham Public Schools plans to host weekend vaccination clinics at various schools across the county to make it as easy as possible for families to get their shots, district spokesman Chip Sudderth said. The details of when and where are still being worked out, he said.