Screenshot via CBC
In late October, 63-year-old Doug Fung died of COVID-19 after being treated for lung cancer at a Vancouver hospital, CBC reports.
Fung’s wife Bronwyn James told CBC she knew something was off when Fung returned home. He was panting and struggling to breathe.
Fung’s doctors suspected that his breathing was a symptom of the lung cancer, but soon James and her daughter fell ill. They both tested positive for COVID-19. Their son tested negative.
Fung’s symptoms worsened and he was soon admitted to the hospital. His family was not allowed to go with him. He died the next day on October 29 of COVID-19 complications.
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“He had a nurse with him. I know that. And I’m so grateful for that caring nurse. But it wasn’t his family,” James told CBC.
James believed her husband may have contracted COVID-19 at North Vancouver’s Lion’s Gate Hospital, where he was being treated for cancer. He was at the hospital for 11 days while receiving treatment and began experiencing symptoms on the last day. She and her daughter have now recovered from COVID-19.
COVID-19 cases have been slowly rising in Vancouver. On Tuesday, British Columbia set a single-day high of 941 new cases, according to the Vancouver Sun.
The rise in cases has prompted a new mandatory mask policy. Masks will be mandatory for indoor activities, and those who do not comply could be subject to $230 fines.
James and her family are urging others to wear a mask.
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Hi, MD here. The title of this article is misleading – COVID tests aren’t fully sensitive early on in the course so it’s highly possible he could’ve tested negative early. Also because he had active lung cancer and was getting active chemotherapy he was severely immunocompromised. If he had worsening respiratory systems it would make sense to be his cancer until he showed infectious symptoms.
Also hard to say whether he really got it from the hospital. However because his family has it as well and positivity rates are so high in the community it’s also totally possible to be community spread from his family and he succumbed quickly because he had active lung cancer and was on chemo.
Anyhow, so much more nuance in this than the article covers at all and written in a sensationalized and misleading way. This man died of both COVID and lung cancer. If he didn’t have lung cancer he may have been just fine, like his daughter and wife.