By Kristin M. Kraemer / Tri-City Herald
KENNEWICK — A Kennewick teen who was severely disabled is one of the first children in Washington state to die from complications of the coronavirus.
Lucyann Carver, 15, died Nov. 24 at Trios Southridge Hospital in Kennewick.
Her cause of death was determined to be “respiratory failure due to pneumonia due to COVID-19,” according to Benton County Coroner Bill Leach.
Leach told the Tri-City Herald on Monday that Lucyann had “multiple underlying issues” since childhood, but could not give more details since that is not part of the public death certificate.
He said the teen was admitted to Trios very early in the morning of Nov. 24 with respiratory problems, and died a short time later.
His office was called in because Lucyann was not in the hospital long enough for Trios staff to sign off on the death certificate, Leach said.
She was the daughter of Olivia and Kelly Carver.
The family faced another struggle in 2017 when Kelly Carver was hit by a head-on driver while riding his motorcycle to work. The father of five survived but was out of work for almost six months because his foot was crushed between the car and his bike, according to a GoFundMe campaign at the time.
Lucyann’s parents could not be reached Monday.
Einan’s at Sunset in Richland is handling Lucyann’s funeral arrangements.
Data from the Washington state Department of Health shows about 15 percent of the COVID cases in the state are in young people up to age 19. And 2 percent of those cases required being hospitalized.
The site shows “0%” dying from the virus, however, at least two other COVID-related child deaths have been reported. A child with COVID between the age of 10-19 died about a week ago in Spokane and last summer a 19-year-old Puyallup High grad died of COVID, according to numerous accounts.
Previously, the youngest to die of COVID-related illnesses in the Tri-Cities were in their 40s — two each in Benton and Franklin counties, said the Benton Franklin Health District.
In Benton County, there have been 356 cases in children from birth to 9 years old, according to the latest data from the health district. And 778 young people ages 10 to 19 have tested positive.
Franklin County has had 300 cases in children under 10 and another 711 in ages 10 to 19.
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