A 42-year-old hospital worker in Georgia who had coronavirus was found dead in her home with her 4-year-old child by her body.
Diedre Wilkes’ body was discovered Thursday in the living room of her home in Newnan, about 40 miles southwest of Atlanta, after a family member called the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office requesting a welfare check, the coroner, Richard Hawk, told NBC News on Wednesday.
It’s believed she died 12 to 16 hours before she was found, the coroner said.
A posthumous coronavirus test was conducted and came back positive for COVID-19, according to Hawk. Wilkes did not have any known underlying health conditions, and an autopsy is being conducted, he said.
Wilkes worked as a mammogram technician at Piedmont Newnan Hospital, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A hospital spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday that the staff was “deeply saddened when the coroner notified us … of the sudden passing of our colleague.”
The hospital said that out of an abundance of caution it contacted employees and patients Wilkes may have had contact with.
“Piedmont is providing these individuals with detailed information for self-monitoring and will offer COVID-19 testing to those who request it,” the statement read. “This employee did not work in an area treating known or suspected COVID-19 patients. Our thoughts and prayers are with the employee’s family during this difficult time.”
Georgia has more than 1,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to the state’s Department of Public Health. As of Tuesday night, the number of deaths in the state totaled 38.
According to the Journal-Constitution, Wilkes’ death and that of a 48-year-old health care worker are the first fatalities from the virus among the state’s medical personnel. The outlet reported that the 48-year-old worker died Thursday at a Florida hospital.
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