Over the weekend, three men in New York City died while recovering from the novel coronavirus.
The men – aged 42, 64 and 70 – were found dead in their rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn on West 37th Street in Manhattan near Times Square, which was being used to quarantine recovering COVID-19 patients.
This is not the first time a patient in recovery has passed away, but each time it befuddles doctors.
Health experts say there are a few theories of why recovering patients die.
1. NEGATIVE TESTS ARE FALSE
One theory is that some coronavirus patients are receiving false negative tests results.
In March, a 36-year-old Chinese man died from the coronavirus just five days after being discharged from a hospital in Wuhan.
Officials at the World Health Organization (WHO) believe the tests that cleared him were wrong as opposed to him having gotten sick again, according to the International Business Times.
‘From the evidence we have, those cases were not reinfected,’ Maria Van Kerkhove, acting head of the WHO’s emerging diseases unit, said.
2. RECOVERED PATIENTS ARE BEING RE-INFECTED
Another theory is that people are experiencing second-time infections.
Reports from Wuhan revealed that some residents has tested positive, then recovered, and are now testing positive for the virus a second time.
Between five percent and 10 percent of patients declared to be ‘recovered’ have tested positive again, reported NPR.
This mostly occurs in people who are asymptomatic carriers; it is not clear if the men in New York who died exhibited symptoms of the virus.
3. THE VIRUS DID TOO MUCH DAMAGE
A third theory is that recovered patients who die did test negative, but the virus damaged the body too severely .
Dr Sanjay Mukhopadhyay, director of pulmonary pathology at the Cleveland Clinic, reported the results of two autopsies, including one of a 77-year-old Oklahoma man who died from the virus.
He found that the inside of the lung air sacs were slathered in a substance that resembled slime or thick paint, which makes it difficult to breathe.
Shortness of breath and difficulty breathing is thought to affect around 14 percent of coronavirus patients, based on data from China.
It is possible the patients had severe cases of coronavirus but, even after they recovered, their lungs has been too damaged.
Additionally, the impact on the immune system could lead to septic shock, which, in turn, could lead to organ failure.
