‘COVID Tore My Family Up’: Ninth Grade Student At Green Street Academy On Life Support After Contracting COVID-19, Mother Also Hospitalized

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Fifteen-year-old Justin Sykes is successful the ninth people astatine Green Street Academy.

But arsenic of Friday afternoon, his grandmother, Barbara Thomas, said he’s astatine Johns Hopkins Hospital, connected beingness support. And his parent is crossed municipality astatine Harbor Hospital, besides warring COVID-19. The household believes it started with an outbreak astatine Sykes’ school.

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“COVID tore my household up,” said Tanika Gaskins, Sykes’ Aunt. She said Sykes is not doing well. “He’s not adjacent breathing connected his own. And we can’t adjacent sojourn him, that’s the brainsick portion astir it.”

The household says Sykes got COVID astatine his school, Green Street Academy.

“I cognize for a information that helium got it from school. We were good until schoolhouse started,” Gaskins said.

Gaskins believes Sykes brought the microorganism location wherever it dispersed to his Grandmother, Thomas, his 2 younger brothers and his mother, Sheena Sykes, who is besides successful the hospital.

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“She’s truthful sick that she can’t adjacent thin to the different children,” Gaskins said of her sister, Sykes.

Baltimore City Schools archer WJZ successful a statement, “Our hearts spell retired to the pupil and their family.” But Gaskins thinks the schoolhouse should spell a measurement further and unopen down.

Some students were sent location with a missive Thursday stating “an idiosyncratic astatine Green Street Academy has tested affirmative for COVID-19,” but connected Friday, Baltimore City Schools reported six students were positive.

“This is the 2nd outbreak astatine the school,” said Kysherra Walker who cares for her seventh-grade niece who besides attends Green Street.

She said she primitively thought schoolhouse should unfastened for in-person learning this schoolhouse twelvemonth but present she’s changed her mind, “because kids are truly dying, they’re getting sick due to the fact that of it.”

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Walker agrees with Gaskins that schools should unopen down and spell backmost to virtual.

Annie Rose Ramos