A frontline Florida nurse who died in April after exposure to patients with the novel coronavirus did not have the virus, according to the recently released autopsy report.
Danielle DiCenso, 33, who died on April 9, was thought to be one of the youngest casualties of the virus in Palm Beach County, passing away after exhibiting symptoms associated with the illness, including coughing and a fever.
“She was on a shift where she had COVID patients, and she didn’t have a mask. She was very scared of going to work,” her husband, David, said.
“It’s really sad. I have a 4-year-old, and he doesn’t have a mommy anymore,” he added. “It makes me really angry.”
However, an autopsy report released by the Palm Beach County medical examiner this week indicated that the Wellington-area nurse did not have the virus but passed away due to “complications of acute pyelonephritis,” which is described as “a sudden and severe kidney infection.”
“The findings are suggestive of an ascending urinary tract infection, leading to acute pyelonephritis and subsequent sepsis,” Medical Examiner Wendolyn Sneed determined.
According to the Ocala Star-Banner, the news “came as a surprise” to her widower, “who said Danielle was convinced that she’d contracted COVID-19 while working in the intensive care unit at Palmetto General Hospital in Hialeah.”
Per the Ocala Star-Banner:
In the weeks before she died, she had expressed concerns to family and friends about working conditions at Palmetto General. She exchanged text messages with other co-workers in which they shared concerns they were not being given proper protective equipment, David said.
After having a fever, she was tested for the virus on March 23. The results came back negative, but a day later, David said, the testing facility called to say the result was inconclusive.
The official numbers of coronavirus cases and related-fatalities in Florida have remained under scrutiny following widespread reports of individuals who never underwent a test receiving confirmation that they had tested positive for the virus.
“For that to come back positive, when there was no specimen submitted, is problematic, so I’ve heard it enough to be concerned about it,” Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said last week, asking the Department of Health to investigate the matter.
Days later, a CBS12 News investigation revealed major discrepancies in reporting coronavirus fatalities, discovering several instances in which an individual “was counted as a COVID death, but did not have COVID listed as a cause of contributing cause of death.”
As Breitbart News detailed:
CBS12 obtained a spreadsheet from the Medical Examiner’s of 581 coronavirus fatalities in Palm Beach County and found that one of the individuals was a 60-year-old man who died from a gunshot wound to the head. Another was a 90-year-old male who fell and died “from complications of a hip fracture.”
A 77-year-old woman died of Parkinson’s disease.
CBS 12 spoke to Palm Beach County resident Rachel Eade, who has been “researching the same issue” and discovered another stunning observation. Only 168 of the deaths were listed as COVID “without any contributing factors.”