USC Aiken nursing student dies from COVID-19, university says
A nursing student at the University of South Carolina Aiken is a victim of the coronavirus pandemic, the school announced on Saturday.
“It is with great sadness I must share the tragic news that Friday afternoon, Joshua Bush, one of our nursing students, passed away due to complications related to COVID-19,” the university’s chancellor, Sandra Jordan, said in a news release.
Bush was a first-semester student in USC Aiken’s nursing program. He worked part-time at a health care facility, where Jordan said Bush “bravely cared for patients.”
He was 30 years old and is survived by his wife, among other family members, according to his obituary, which noted that Bush was being treated at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Georgia at the time of his death.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, LaKita, their family, to our faculty and staff in the School of Nursing and all of our nursing students who knew him well, and our entire Pacer community,” Jordan said. “He was a stellar student and a beloved classmate, always greeting people with a big smile. This is a great loss to our Pacer family.”
Jordan went on to call Bush “one of our Pacer Heroes who selflessly and compassionately answered the call of our community during this pandemic.”
Funeral arrangements, which have yet to be made, will be handled by Jackson-Brooks Funeral Home, according to an obituary. Jordan said USC Aiken will also hold a memorial for Bush at a later date, at which time a tree will be planted in his honor during a campus-wide service in front of the School of Nursing.
Since testing began in early March, 69 confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in Aiken County, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Four of those coronavirus patients have died, health officials said.
DHEC estimates there are actually 424 more cases in Aiken County, which would bring the number of total possible cases there to 493.
On Sunday, 136 new cases of the coronavirus were reported in South Carolina, bringing the statewide total to 4,377 confirmed COVID-19 cases in all 46 counties, according to DHEC.
DHEC also announced Sunday that another person has died after testing positive for the coronavirus, raising the state’s death total to 120. On Saturday, one of those deaths was described by health officials as “a middle-aged individual with no known underlying health conditions who was from Aiken County.”
About two-thirds of S.C. patients, or 67 percent, have recovered from the disease, according to DHEC.
There have been 34,587 combined negative tests at DHEC’s public health laboratory and at private labs.
Symptoms of coronavirus can include a fever, coughing, and difficulty breathing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among the emergency warning signs of COVID-19 is trouble breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, and blueish lips or face.
DHEC is encouraging people to practice social distancing to help stop the spread of the virus. Social distancing means staying away from unnecessary interactions with sick people and large groups. It also calls for remaining at home unless it is absolutely necessary to go outside.
The best way to prevent contraction of COVID-19 is to frequently wash hands for 20 seconds; avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth; avoid contact with sick people and clean frequently touched objects with a cleaning spray or wipe, according to the CDC.
DHEC also recommends covering your cough, staying home when sick,and disposing tissues and other items that you’ve sneezed or coughed into.
As of Sunday morning, 2,345,633 people worldwide have been diagnosed with coronavirus and 161,262 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States leads the world with 735,287 people who have been diagnosed with the novel virus. In the U.S. 39,090 deaths have been reported, including 13,157 in New York City.
Lou Bezjak contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 19, 2020 at 2:11 PM.
