The youngest suspected coronavirus victim in Oregon tested negative for the disease, according to specialized testing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“They did blood tests, and the white blood cell count was elevated, so they just said it looked COVID-like, basically,” the victim’s mother, Kimberly Irvin, said of her son’s doctors. “From early on, I felt that the COVID diagnosis was incorrect.”
Matthew Irvin died in July at the age of 26 and was listed as the state’s youngest victim of the virus.
After his death, his death certificate listed him as a COVID-19 victim, and state officials said they did not conduct an autopsy because their medical team was understaffed.
“They didn’t look at it differently, that they assumed it was COVID and should have did an autopsy to find out why this young man died,” Irvin’s stepfather, Michael Laheyne, said.
The family hired a private pathologist to conduct an autopsy and were advised to send lung tissue samples to the CDC for specialized testing.
The test results came back negative for the coronavirus, leaving the family questioning the state’s methods of tracking the virus.
“I’m sure there’s a lot of people who lost loved ones that are questioning,” Laheyne said.
The family has also voiced concerns that their son could have received life-saving medical treatments if doctors had not assumed he suffered from the virus.
“He had a big heart, and it was way too early to take him. We just want closure. I mean, it’s been ripped back open drastically, and it’s really hard.”
Irvin has since been removed from Oregon’s list of coronavirus victims, and his death certificate has been updated to reflect that he didn’t die from the virus.
