4-year-old New York boy whose ‘smile and spunk lit up the room’ dies of coronavirus

ONEIDA COUNTY, N.Y. (WSYR) — Oneida County in upstate New York has lost its youngest person yet to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Xavier Harris was only 4 years old when he died of COVID-19, according to his family. Per his obituary, Xavier died on Dec. 26.

His family has set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for funeral arrangements. As of Tuesday night, the GoFundMe had raised almost $24,540 of its $30,000 goal. More than 500 people have donated.

On the GoFundMe page, Xavier was described as a “beautiful boy” whose “smile and spunk lit up the room.” His battle with the illness was “short” and “unexpected.”

Harris was “loved and cherished by many people,” his obituary reads.

The Oneida County Dashboard lists just one death in the “under 17” category. More than 200 people in the county have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

There have now been more than 337,828 deaths from COVID-19 in the United States as the nation closes in on 20 million cases, according to Johns Hopkins statistics.