A Year Later, Parents Remember One Of Pandemic’s Littlest Victims

METRO DETROIT, MI — Skylar Herbert was one of the young faces of the coronavirus pandemic.

At 5, she was the first child in Michigan to die from the virus, and one of the first in the United States. Her parents, Ebbie and LaVondria Herbert, got sick first. He’s a Detroit firefighter and she’s a Detroit police officer.

They didn’t think coronavirus would get their little girl, whose photo was plastered last year on the Capitol Hill desk of U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, as he convened hearings before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.

The coronavirus killed Skylar Herbert on April 19 at Beaumont Children’s Hospital in Royal Oak. She had been sick since March 26, Detroit news station WXYZ reported. When the Beaumont medical team could do no more for Skylar, they turned their attention to her parents.

“They were just so sweet they stood with teddy bears right by her side, held me until she took her last breath,” LaVondria Herbert told the TV station. Read the full story on WXYZ.com.

The Songs Of Quarantine Angst

Elise Marra, a 17-year-old singer and songwriter from Commerce Township whose “Frankie! The Musical!” charted on Billboard’s Top 10, croons the tunes of coronavirus angst in her new indie EP “Elise Marra” and the single “Confused.” It’s available now on iTunes.

Inspired by the isolation and angst of quarantine, Marra pivots into new territory with her original indie music that is uniquely diverse and created with a full range of emotions, including the indie-rock of “Confused,” soft ballads including “Blue Eyed Girl,” “I Won’t Forget’” and “Maybe We Fall In Love,” as well as energetic rocking songs such as “Tell Me What’s Up with That” and “Insecure,” which pokes fun at her own insecurities. Read more about it on Detroit Patch.

Metro Detroit Headlines

• What’s In $1.9 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill for Michiganders: The stimulus checks are larger and will go to groups left out in the past in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package signed by President Joe Biden Wednesday, via Detroit Patch.
• What Lies Beneath As Detroit River Runs Clear: Across the border in Canada, the Windsor Port Authority harbor master points out the Detroit River is running so clear — a sign, he says, of recovery — that the cars, shopping carts, lawnmowers, statues, park benches and other items people have tossed in are visible, via Canada’s CBC.
• No Charges In Fatal Cannon Firing At Baby Shower: The Genesee County prosecutor won’t file charges in a fatal cannon explosion at a baby shower that killed Evan Thomas Silva, 26, of Hartland, via WXYZ.
• Bill Bans Transgender Athletes From High School Sports: The bill introduced by Brighton Republican Sen. Lana Theis and a dozen others aims to prevent transgender athletes from playing on teams other than those matching their gender at birth, via Detroit Free Press.
• I-94 Detour Through Monday: If Interstate 94 takes you to your destination, be aware that construction over the Cadillac Avenue overpass will close some freeway lanes this weekend and exit ramps indefinitely, via WDIV.

“Detroit led this country in dropping the COVID infection rate. We are not leading this country in getting vaccinated, and if we are going to drive the comeback of this city it's going to be important.”

— Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, saying in his State of the City address that all Detroiters will be eligible for COVID-19 shots by May

SPORTS TALK: Ex-Detroit Pistons forward Ben Wallace, former Pistons assistant coach and NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway and former University of Michigan star Chris Webber are among 14 finalists for the 2021 class of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Read more on MLive.com.

WEATHER IN A WORD: Soggy

LET’S MAKE PLANS: The exhibit “Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection” continues at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn. It features more than 60 objects, spanning the more than 30-year career of the artist, who worked in nearly all media available to artists in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Also on the calendar:

• 313 Weekend: Spring is coming, and Detroit is opening venue doors to people from all over the state. Read more about it here.
• Women in Cinema Series: The every-Thursday series celebrating the legacy of Black films created about brilliant and dynamic African American women features “Step” this week. Read more about it here.
• Lucky Leprechaun Day: The cost to children to search for coins scattered around Canterbury Village in Lake Orion by leprechauns is four cans of non-perishable food items. Read more about it here.

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