A Texas woman in her 30s died of Covid-19 while flying home from Arizona this summer, officials said Monday.
The woman was on a Spirit Airlines flight scheduled from Las Vegas to Dallas-Fort Worth on July 24 which ended up diverting to Albuquerque due to reports of an unresponsive female on board, Stephanie Kitts, a spokesperson for Albuquerque International Sunport, said in an email.
“Based on that report, and the fact that there was no mention of COVID at the time of the diversion, we treated this as we would any other medical incident,” Kitts said.
Authorities responded and determined the woman was dead on arrival, she said.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, in Texas, announced the woman’s death Sunday in a press release that was obtained by NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.
Jenkins said the woman, who lived in Garland, Texas, had difficulty breathing and was given oxygen but died on the jetway, NBC reported. Erroneous initial reports also said the woman died in Arizona.
Lauren Trimble, Jenkins’ chief of staff, told The Arizona Republic on Tuesday the death was “mistakenly reported to have happened in Arizona” but that it happened in New Mexico.
Jenkins wrote in a Tuesday tweet that his prayers were with the woman’s family as well as “every family that has lost someone to Covid-19.”
Jenkins said he would not be able to release many more details about the incident, citing privacy laws.
Officials at Sky Harbor International Airport referred The Republic to Trimble.
My prayers are with this family and every family that has lost someone to Covid-19. We won’t be able to give much more details pursuant to privacy laws. https://t.co/zZbGV2A5Vw
— Clay Jenkins (@JudgeClayJ) October 20, 2020
