Students at Western Michigan University are mourning after a 25-year-old Nigerian Chemical Engineering student, Bassey Offiong, died of COVID-19 on Saturday in Detroit.
He was expected to graduate in a few weeks. According to his sister, Asari, the deceased told her he was turned down several times for the coronavirus test in the Kalamazoo area while living off-campus despite having fever, fatigue and shortness of breath.
“He said they refused to test him. One medical staffer told him he had bronchitis,” Asari said. She added that Bassey had no known prior health issues. He was hospitalized at Beaumont in Royal Oak and spent the last week on a ventilator in their intensive care unit. .
On Sunday, the Kalamazoo County Health and Community Service Department confirmed his death due to coronavirus. Bassey’s death comes after the university first reported three positive cases of coronavirus heading into the weekend. .
As of Saturday, March 28, 2020, Michigan’s total number of COVID-19 cases has reached 4,650 and has had 111 total deaths as a result of coronavirus.
