George Floyd tested positive for Covid-19 in April yet remained asymptomatic, autopsy reveals
46-year-old George Floyd, who died after now ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for a sickening eight minutes while restraining him, had tested positive for coronavirus back in April, an autopsy has revealed. The 20-page document released by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office reveals that a test of Floyd that had been taken on April 3, was positive for the virus's genetic code or RNA. Given that RNA can stay in a person's body for weeks after the virus has gone, a second positive test after his death meant that Floyd had remained asymptomatic from an earlier infection when he died on May 25, NBC News reports.
A report from the New York Times, which cited the full autopsy, said that Floyd had tested positive on April 3. After his death, the county's top medical examiner Andrew Baker said that the Minnesota Department of Health had taken a swab from his nose and he had tested positive. The positive status at the time of his death was possibly a long-lasting result from his previous infection. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that a positive result does not necessarily mean that the person is infectious.
The report also revealed that there is no indication that the virus played any role in Floyd's death. We had previously reported that an official post-mortem examination declared the death of Floyd as a homicide on Monday, June 1. In a viral video that has sparked nationwide outrage, Floyd repeatedly told Chauvin, who kneeled on his neck, that he was unable to breathe but the officer did not budge. According to experts hired by Floyd's family and the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, his death was ruled as a homicide.
On Friday, May 29, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner had reportedly announced that it had made "no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.” They seemed to suggest that Floyd had some underlying health conditions that had contributed to his death. The report raised a lot of eyebrows and was heavily contested. A former NYC Medical examiner, Dr Michael Baden, shared at a news conference, "The cause of death, in my opinion, is asphyxia, due to compression to the neck - which can interfere with oxygen going to the brain - and compression to the back, which interferes with breathing."
Chauvin, who had continued to kneel on Floyd's neck, has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter in the case. The disgraced cop was one of the four officers who were fired after the incident. The four cops who were involved have been identified as Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J Alexander Kueng. Floyd's death led to many celebrities voicing their outrage and disgust at the incident. Rapper Cardi B took to social media to share, "Enough is enough! What will it take? A civil war? A new president? Violent riots? It’s tired! I’m tired! The country is tired! You don’t put fear in people when you do this you just show how coward YOU ARE! And how America is really not the land of the free!"