The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A WOMAN who died on Bimini this week did not test positive for COVID-19 before her death, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Delon Brennen said yesterday.

An autopsy will be performed to determine the woman’s cause of death. Officials previously said they were investigating to see if her death was COVID related. Bimini has been designated as a COVID-19 hotspot due to a cluster of cases on the small island.

On Monday, Dr Brennen told a local daily the woman who died this week had previously tested positive for the disease.

Yesterday Dr Brennen said incorrect information initially came to health officials.

“So the reports that were coming out first that came to us was that one of the persons who was on Bimini who’d been diagnosed with COVID had died. But that was what came to us at first,” he said.

When officials looked into the details, it was revealed the woman had not previously tested positive.

Chamell Hanna said her sister Dave’ette Rolle, 26, was never tested before her death and was upset by the initial reports.

She added: “I know my sister was never tested. Now, I would’ve felt better if he had said it’s believed she has been around someone that has it and will need to be tested but I know that my sister was never tested - that I know for a fact. So when I saw it, I was highly upset.”

Ms Hanna, who does not live with her sister, was not present when she collapsed and died Monday morning.

“Everybody is just shocked because everybody wants to know how she just died so suddenly. No warning. No problems. No complications. No nothing.”

She said a doctor in Bimini believed her sister died of a heart attack.

She said her sister complained about her heart racing a few days before her death.

Now the family is awaiting the autopsy results for answers.