A California man who visited Disney World and later tested positive for coronavirus died Thursday after being hospitalized nearly a week on a ventilator, according to The Los Angeles Times, citing public health officials.
His illness developed from a simple cough to full-blown pneumonia in just a matter of days.
Orlando news station Fox 35, TMZ and multiple social media posts identified the man as 34-year-old Jeffrey Ghazarian of Glendora, near Pasadena. Family members confirmed his death and told Fox 35 that he suffered from asthma and bronchitis, but survived testicular cancer in 2016.
Los Angeles County health officials said he was the second person in the county to die from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to The Times.
On Facebook, several people who knew Ghazarian expressed grief and disbelief about the news of his passing.
The Times reports that Ghazarian’s sister began posting regular updates about his condition to his Facebook page since he became sick.
“He suffered a lot and put up a good fight,” she posted, according to The Times.
On Sunday she shared one of his last messages, which said: “Tell my friends.”
Ghazarian appeared healthy when he traveled to Orlando, Fla., for a work conference on March 2, The Times reports.
He decided to stay two extra days to visit Disney World and Universal Studios with friends, according to The Times. By March 7, Ghazarian had developed a cough, his sister said on Facebook. A day after that he began coughing up blood. He flew back to Los Angeles on March 9 and checked himself into the hospital with a high fever, his sister said, according to The Times.
Doctors tested him for COVID-19, prescribed antibiotics and sent him home to self-quarantine and await the results of the test, which came back positive on March 13, The Times reports. An ambulance was dispatched and he was brought to an emergency room.
The next morning, tests showed 60% to 70% of his lungs blocked with pneumonia, The Times reported, according to the sister’s account.
Ghazarian's sister also said that doctors tried different antiviral medications included Remdesivir, which has been administered to some coronavirus patients and is being tested in clinical trials, according to The Times.
About the Author
