The healthy New Orleans social worker who died after initially turning down a coronavirus test was found to be negative for the illness — but her doctor is “skeptical” about the result, according to a report.
Natasha Ott, 39, was determined to be negative for the virus following the discovery of her body Friday on her kitchen floor, but a lab is conducting a retest of the result, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Her daughter, Emily Coalson Stamets, said the lab retest was ordered because Ott’s doctor “is highly skeptical of the results,” the outlet reported. The family could receive the results of the new test within two days.
Meanwhile, the New Orleans coroner’s office is also conducting its own test, which could take up to 90 days, the newspaper reported.
Ott’s boyfriend, Josh Anderson, said on Facebook that he found her dead in her apartment, where she was awaiting news about whether her recent sickness and fever were actually COVID-19.
Anderson said Ott first complained to him on March 10 that she had a “respiratory cold” and “tiny fever.”
Though her clinic had tests available, Ott told him that she “declined to take one so someone else could.”
Ott — who didn’t have any underlying conditions — ultimately submitted to a coronavirus test on March 16, only to be found dead in her apartment four days later, the outlet reported.
“For those of you not fortunate enough to have known her — know this: it’s an immeasurable loss,” he wrote. “And seeing a woman I knew to be so full of life lying on the floor lifeless was devastating.”
