Family devastated by Covid-19 death
New Zealand’s youngest Covid-19 victim was suffering from arthritis and taking medication that suppressed her immune system, her devastated family say.
Jocelyn Finlayson, 62, had been flown from Southland Hospital to Dunedin Hospital on April 4 where she was intubated and sedated for two weeks. Her family believed she had been on the road to recovery.
But late on Wednesday evening the Invercargill woman died, her son and husband at her side.
Her son, Will Finlayson, said the family had received about four phone calls over the past couple of weeks that made them think she was going to die. ‘‘She deteriorated for a long time . . . and then she’d kind of come back a bit.’’
She started the week with three of the most positive days she had experienced since being in hospital. Before then, she had needed to be on her stomach for 22 hours a day.
On Wednesday morning, Will Finlayson started telling people he was ‘‘hopeful she might recover’’. But the family received a call about 7pm that day to say things were not looking good and they could visit her to say their goodbyes.
‘‘She passed away when we kind of said it was OK for her to go ... It felt a lot more peaceful than I thought.’’
Jocelyn Finlayson’s husband and son, and his pregnant partner, have also tested positive for Covid19. Their two children are probable cases. The family did not know how they contracted the virus.
Health authorities have suggested it may have been at the supermarket from a tourist who was coughing.
Finlayson said his mother had an underlying health condition, rheumatoid arthritis, and had been taking one immune suppressant pill for it each week for about 10 years. She stopped taking the pill as soon as she was diagnosed with Covid-19.
He believed her health was ‘‘pretty standard’’ for someone her age. ‘‘I don’t want people to think she was sick anyway and that’s just what happened.’’
University of Otago respiratory and infectious disease physician Dr Michael Maze said taking immunosuppressive drugs may make a person more susceptible to severe Covid-19.
‘‘[But] if you’ve got some other condition and you stop the drugs that are controlling it then there’s a pretty good chance things will get worse and that could have pretty serious health consequences, too.’’ University of Otago Associate Professor Andrew Harrison, who is also the medical adviser to Arthritis New Zealand, said drugs used to treat arthritis had ‘‘very little’’ impact on people’s infection risk.