TESTS to determine whether the death last week of a six-year-old in Linden was caused by COVID-19 have proven negative.

This was confirmed by Dr. Joseph London, Acting Medical Superintendent of the Linden Hospital Complex, where the child was first taken when she took ill.
Dr. London, however, said that while the COVID test has determined otherwise, the cause of death will officially be listed as respiratory failure.
“The results are that the child did not die from COVID-19, and while the samples were taken off some hours after, and there are several speculations, we cannot say that it was COVID-19, as the results says negative,” Dr. London said, adding: “We will, nevertheless, have to continue being vigilant, and should we be confronted by a similar situation, we are cognisant of the procedures that must be followed in taking off the samples.”

The tests were done after the child, who’d reportedly exhibited all the classic signs associated with COVID-19, died while being prepped right at the Linden Hospital Complex to be transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
At an emergency meeting some days ago, Dr. London had reported that when the six-year-old was initially examined at the LHC’s Emergency Room, she had had a mild fever, shortness of breath, and tummy pains, and after a thorough examination, the paediatric team concluded that their only option was to send her to Georgetown immediately. Unfortunately, she died within 90 minutes of arrangements being made to take her to Georgetown, Dr. London had said.

“While we were waiting to transfer her, she was not maintaining oxygen over 70, which made her unstable for transfer. She was resuscitated to a comfortable level, and her condition continued to worsen, resulting in her dying. Her condition was suspicious; however, we were unable to conduct a test on her,” Dr. London had reported.
According to Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO) Dr. Karen Boyle, who was in Linden when the emergency meeting was held with Dr. London, a test should have been done immediately after the child had died to ascertain whether or not she’d had COVID 19. She warned that because the child’s remains was taken to the morgue minus the test, chances were when the samples were eventually taken, the results may very well return negative. She’d also warned that even if it’s negative, it doesn’t mean that the girl wasn’t positive in having COVID-19.

“It was important for the medical staff to have tested her within 24 hours after she would have died, but taking into account that she may have already been taken to the morgue, where she is in the fridge, I am not sure if the samples being taken off will yield a proper results,” Dr. Boyle said.

Turns out the samples were taken from the child’s remains some 36 hours after it was placed in the morgue. According to some medical sources, this may have affected a true result, as the samples may have been compromised, a point that Dr. Boyle had made when the matter was first brought to her attention.