As the coronavirus bore down on New York, Dr. Doug Bassâ family begged him to work from home. He refused, pointing to his patients at Phoenix House, a drug and alcohol treatment center where he served as medical director.
âHe said he was on the front lines and they needed him,â his brother, Jonathan Bass, told The Associated Press. âToo many people relied on him.â
Bass, 64, died on March 28 after suffering symptoms commonly caused by coronavirus, including coughing, a fever and severe stomach cramping. That made him possibly the first physician still treating patients in New York City to die from the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Except he wasnât counted.
It happened so quickly he was never tested for Covid-19, but his brother believes he was among the hundreds of undiagnosed cases that, for weeks, have been excluded from the official coronavirus death toll.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would begin counting victims like Bass who werenât tested, including those dying at home whose symptoms fit certain parameters.
Associated Press