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By Jami Ganz
Jeffrey Ghazarian of Glendora California. (Facebook)
A 34-year-old California man has died following a battle with COVID-19, the illness caused by the ongoing pandemic of novel coronavirus, just two weeks after he visited Walt Disney World and Universal Studios.
Jeffrey Ghazarian of Glendora — about 27 miles east of Los Angeles — died Thursday morning after he spent five days hooked up to a ventilator, his family told TMZ.
Ghazarian's test for the virus came back positive last Friday, and by Saturday, he was transported to the hospital and kept in the ICU where his lungs were found to be 60 to 70% blocked with pneumonia, the outlet reports.
Though Ghazarian was reportedly approved for antiviral medications, which have in some cases shown promise with COVID-19 patients, he never got them.
In addition to a previous history of asthma and frequent bouts of childhood bronchitis, Ghazarian beat testicular cancer in 2016, all of which could have made him more vulnerable to the potential severity of the virus.
Though the virus caused far more grief for older adults or immune-compromised population when it ravaged China, that might not be the case in the U.S. and Europe.
Of 121 coronavirus patients admitted to an ICU, as of Monday, 48% were under 65, with 12% aged 20 to 44, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Coronavirus in pictures: How the world has reacted to the outbreak
Ghazarian flew to Orlando on March 2 for a conference and stayed in town to go with friends to Orlando's Disney World and Universal Studios, both of which have had to close amid the pandemic, and flew home on March 9, two days after developing a cough and then coughing up blood, forcing him to visit the ER.
The parks announced last week that they would close from March 16 until at least the end of the month.
After Disney World's closing ceremony Sunday night, Walt Disney's grand-niece Abigail Disney was furious to see what appeared to be endless crowds gathered at the park's Magic Kingdom, which if accurate, defeated the very purpose of social distancing the closures were trying to promote.
Though the photos were published by WDW News Today, which says it is "not affiliated with the Walt Disney Co.," she tweeted: "Are you f--king kidding me??"
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