1st Child to Die of Coronavirus in U.S. Was Refused Treatment at Urgent Care Center for Lack of Insurance

A 17-year-old boy in Los Angeles County who was believed to be the first child in the U.S. to die of coronavirus was refused treatment because he didn’t have health insurance. That revelation was shared this week in a YouTube video put out by the city of Lancaster, California, where the boy lived. “He’d been sick for a few days. He had no previous health conditions,” says Lancaster Mayor Rex Parris, who added that on the day he died, “He had gone to an urgent care…He didn’t have insurance so they did not treat him and sent him to AV [Antelope Valley] Hospital.

En route to AV Hospital, he went into cardiac arrest, when he got to AV hospital they were able to revive him and keep him alive for about six hours. But by the time he got there, it was too late.” The name of the urgent care center that refused to treat him has not been released.