According to Lancaster, California Mayor, R. Rex Parris, a 17-year old became the coronavirus’ youngest victim after being turned away from urgent care. The teen did not have any underlying health conditions. (1)
No Health Insurance – Or Did He?
“He did not have insurance, so they did not treat him,” says Parris who claims the boy was sent from an urgent care clinic to a hospital. On his way to the hospital via ambulance, he went into cardiac arrest and was revived upon arrival. Sadly, within six hours he was dead. (1)
“We’ve learned that once you go into respiratory issues, you have trouble breathing, you’re short of breath and you have a fever, that is the time to get medical treatment without delay,” says Parris. (1)
COVID-19 Not Confirmed Cause Of Death
According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, they confirmed the cause of death was COVID-19. However, they later changed the cause of death stating further evaluation is needed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (1)
“Though early tests indicated a positive result for COVID-19, the case is complex and there may be an alternate explanation for this fatality,” the statement said. “Patient privacy prevents our offering further details at this time.” At the time of the teen’s death, it was believed to be the youngest case in the U.S. (1, 2)
Father Tests Positive
Part of the confusion might be due to the fact the teen died from septic shock and he was not officially confirmed to have the coronavirus until after his death. The teen’s father, an Uber driver has since tested positive for the virus. (3)
“The Friday before he died, he was healthy. He was socializing with his friends,” says Parris. “By Wednesday, he was dead.” His death sent ripples through his group of friends. (1, 3)
Melissa Derose says her daughter Hailey called her in “hysterics” when she heard of her friend’s death. Melissa’s first thought was “I hope it’s not related to COVID-19.”
She was very concerned, knowing he was healthy just days ago. “They were all trying to find out what happened and one of the friends asked the boy’s brother online and he said it was pneumonia,” says Melissa. (3)
COVID-19 Tests
When Melissa confirmed the friend had died due to the virus, she immediately spoke to their primary care clinic. The tests found Hailey, her older sister, and her dad had the virus while the mother and younger sister did not. (3)
According to current guidelines the family would not have qualified for testing because no one was showing symptoms. Melissa feels that the community was put at risk because Public Health officials did not share information there were people living in the area with the virus. (3)
“Even if they hadn’t had his test results, they had my daughter’s by Sunday 22 and they said nothing,” she says. “It only became public knowledge when they announced his death.” (3)
The Misunderstanding
However, the situation isn’t as cut and dry as all of that. Nearly a week after Parris was seen in a video on YouTube claiming the boy died and was not treated because of lack of insurance, he admitted there had been a misunderstanding. It may have been due to a language barrier since the boy’s father does not speak English as his first language. What turned out to be true instead was that the family did have insurance and the father called Kaiser for a recommendation. After relaying the boy’s symptoms, the father was told to bring his son to the Antelope Valley hospital and he, unfortunately, coded on the way there. Hospital workers then spent six hours in the emergency room trying to revive him but were unable to do so. So, while the tragedy suffered by this family is not lessened in any way, it may bring solace to readers to know that the boy perished due to medical conditions, not because of a callous bureaucratic system. (5)
Antibiotics And Hydroxychloroquine
Hailey, her sister, and father have a mild case of the virus. They were prescribed an antibiotic and the anti-malarial Hydroxychloroquine which is currently part of a clinical trial for treating COVID-19. (3)
The University of Washington School of Medicine is heading up trials in collaboration with New York University Grossman School of Medicine to determine if hydroxychloroquine can prevent transmission in people exposed to the virus. (4)
Not Proven To Work Yet
“We currently don’t know if hydroxychloroquine works, but we will learn in as short a timeframe as possible what the outcome is,” says principal investigator Ruanne Barnabas, associate professor of global health in the University of Washington schools of Medicine and Public Health. (4)
Trials Underway
The tests currently underway will study people who have been in close contact with someone with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. They will be given either hydroxychloroquine or a placebo to see if it is effective in preventing the virus from spreading. It will take eight weeks to complete the trial. (4)
“Our goal is to stop transmission of COVID-19 in the community,” Barnabas says. (4)
Meanwhile, Mayor Parris urges people to remain unified during the outbreak. “These next few months, we have to be together. We have to be strong. And most importantly, stay home,” he says. (1)
