A closer look at COVID-19 related deaths

Dr. Marvin Manzanero

So, as you heard just now – there are ten COVID-related deaths in Belize within the span of about thirty-six hours. Three of the deceased are females, while seven are males. Today, during the Ask the Experts Webcast, D.H.S. Dr. Marvin Manzanero provided some context for the deaths – he outlines what’s the supporting medical opinion in those cases that resulted in casualties. Manzanero notes that several of the patients have had underlying conditions but their COVID-19 status is confirmed until after they’ve passed.

Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of Health Services

“The third and fourth patient that died on the previous weekend of this one that just went by, they had had interaction with the system practically very minimal. In the case of one patient died while receiving care at a private institution and the other patient arrived – none of these patients arrived to the private or public institution with SARS-COVID. In both instances they had a diagnosis after they had died. That is the previous weekend – almost sudden deaths. We are now considering based on what we are finding and what is described in the literature elsewhere, that these could have been just prothrombotic events and we mentioned it the last time we were here. People who have SARS-COVID2 are likely to develop clots and that contributes to issues such as strokes, myocardial infarctions and pulmonary embolism in the lungs and that can lead to a patient’s demise. The fifth patient that died towards the end of last week, that patient had a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and had a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and had been on a ventilator and developed sepsis as a result of widespread infection which is what can happen when people are on a prolonged ventilation situation. The sixth patient is a female who was brought from San Pedro and she was swabbed just because she is from San Pedro and that is when we also made that diagnosis; it’s a female. It would seem therefore that in the last six cases – five at least would have had stages where they would have prothrombotic events – meaning they have clots that would have triggered myocardial infarction, emboli in the lungs, and clots in the lungs. We have a patient; eighty-five-year-old male who is also positive for SARS-COVID2 and hospitalized at KHMH. He is not intubated; not ventilated and he might actually be discharged anytime now.”