Questions about death of London teen who had COVID-19 won't be answered, Mackie says

The Middlesex-London Health Unit said they are unable to release more information about the death of Yassin Dabeh, 19, who is the youngest person to die in the region after being diagnosed with COVID-19. 

Dabeh was from London and worked as a cleaner at Middlesex Terrace, a long-term care home in nearby Delaware, Ont. He was a Syrian refugee who moved to Canada with his family in 2016.

On Monday's media call, MLHU medical officer of health Dr. Chris Mackie said he was unable to provide more details about Dabeh's death. More than 19,000 Canadians have died of COVID-19 but Dabeh's death is rare because he is one of only three victims who've died with the disease who were younger than 19. 

Mackie said more information won't be released because Dabeh has been buried in accordance with the family's wishes. 

"I think we're all going to have to be satisfied with the limited information that we currently have," said Mackie.  "There won't be an autopsy done on this individual."

"I know there are questions about whether this is a somebody who died of COVID or with COVID. Unfortunately we're not going to get answers to that. I wish we could provide more details but they won't be, unfortunately, available."

Mackie said Dabeh went to an emergency room and later died, but Mackie said he didn't have more information to release. 

"It's someone who had symptoms and then days later presented to emergency room," he said. "Beyond that, we don't have much information."

Mackie said in cases where it's clear that a COVID-19 positive patient died of another cause, that death would be excluded from the COVID-19 death count. 

In response to questions surrounding a person's COVID-19 death or diagnosis, Mackie said the health unit has to weigh the patient's privacy against the public accessing information they need to stay safe.

"I'm quite happy with how we've achieved that balance," he said.