Youngest COVID-19 victim Skylar Herbert is pictured in a video during a recent ceremony of the Detroit Public Safety Headquarters’ Michigan Room renaming it to the Skylar Herbert Room.
Still shot provided by the Detroit Police Department
Skylar Herbert, the youngest Michigan victim to die from COVID-19 last year will never be forgotten.
Local officials made sure of that on Wednesday as Mayor Mike Duggan, Police Chief James E. Craig and Fire Commissioner Eric Jones, honored Herbert at the Detroit Public Safety Headquarters during a ceremony to officially rename the building’s Michigan Room to the Skylar Herbert Room.
“This is very overwhelming for me,” Herbert’s mother, LaVondria Herbert, said beforehand while expressing her gratitude and the journey her and her husband, Ebbie Herbert are still on. “We cry together all the time — we cry every day just waking up in the morning and not seeing her in her bedroom. Her bedroom is still the same; we haven’t touched it … we like to be strong as a team.
She also thanked everyone for recognizing her daughter, whom she described as sweet, funny and wise. “Mayor (Mike Duggan) you called us the first day … we appreciate you … I am just really grateful that you did this for my baby. We are very humbled by this,” she said.
Ebbie Herbert agreed and thanked “the whole city of Detroit” and the police and fire department.
“We are very honored and humbled for what you have done for our daughter,” he said adding that it is a hard time for the family right now.
“I tell everyone this is something you don’t ever want to go through — it is an empty feeling,” he said.
According to a published report, Skylar was diagnosed in March 2020 with COVID-19 and subsequently developed a rare form of meningitis and swelling of the brain – which would cause her to die a month later.
“The loss of Skyler touched every single person in the city,” said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.
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