It was just a cough: 16-year-old French girl succumbs to COVID-19

Julie, a 16-year-old girl from Essonne, France recently died following complications linked to the coronavirus. French public health expert Dr Jérôme Salomon called her passing 'very, very sad', but when on to explain that serious complications such as these are still quite rare among young patients:

Complications arise from time to time for multiple reasons (…) We see it in particular in patients with certain viral infections that have exceptional, extremely severe forms.

The young girl's mother opened up in the columns of the French newspaper, the Parisien:

It was violent. We had time to see her, but then everything happened very quickly. Because of the circumstances of the epidemic, the burial protocol is very strict. I know it’s complicated, but a little more humanity is needed.

She only had a cough

The mother of the deceased schoolgirl bravely explained her daughter's symptoms, which she said were quite mild at first. A week before she passed, Julie only appeared to have a cough, which she tried to soothe with cough medicine, herbs and inhalants.

She first started to experience shortness of breath on Saturday but her incessant coughing fits pushed Julie’s mother into taking her to the doctor.

And that’s when everything went downhill. Within a few days, Julie’s health deteriorated considerably and she ended up losing her life in the Necker hospital in Paris. Her mother explained the horrible situation to the Parisien:

It was violent. We had time to see her, but then everything happened very quickly. Because of the circumstances of the epidemic, the burial protocol is very strict. I know it’s complicated, but a little more humanity is needed.

Her funeral is being held today (Monday) in the utmost privacy and only around 10 people will be allowed to attend. When schools return, a ceremony in memory of Julie will be organised for her classmates.

The virus spares no-one

According to the WHO, 2.4% of the over 75,000 confirmed cases in China involved people under the age of 18. Of these cases of the COVID-19 virus, some turned serious (2.5%), and others were even critical (0.2%).