New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced this week that a 27-year-old man had died from Covid, making him the youngest victim of the virus in the state.
Aude Alaskar, a forklift driver from Warwick Farm, was found collapsed in his apartment on Wednesday, 13 days into his home isolation after testing positive to Covid.
Berejiklian confirmed the young man had not been vaccinated, prompting authorities to use Alaskar’s death to urge young people to get the Covid jab as soon as possible.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said the man had “suddenly deteriorated” and had no underlying conditions at the time of his death.
“He did complain of feeling a little fatigued but the deterioration happened suddenly is my understanding,” she said.
“We are aware that with Covid you can get sudden deaths and I think that is important to understand that your health status can deteriorate and you can have sudden deaths with Covid.”
Alaskar’s family told the Daily Mail he received a positive Covid diagnosis less than two weeks ago, however, he did not develop any symptoms until about a week into the infection, and even then, they were rather mild.
“He had no coughing, nothing,” his cousin, Khalid Thijeel said.
Virtually every major news outlet in the nation was quick to jump on the story that a healthy young man, with no underlying medical conditions, had suddenly dropped dead from Covid.
Headlines across the country read:
9News: “Sydney man Aude Alaskar, 27, died ‘suddenly’ from COVID-19 two weeks after contracting the virus.”
Yahoo News: “Sydney Covid victim, 27, dead just weeks after wedding.”
The Guardian: “Covid death of Sydney man Aude Alaskar, 27, prompts calls for young people to get vaccinated.”
7News: “Sydney man Aude Alaskar died ‘suddenly’ at home from COVID-19.”
The Age: “‘Kind-hearted’ man, 28, dies of COVID-19 just hours away from isolation freedom.”
ABC News: “Sydney man Aude Alaskar died of COVID-19 just months after getting married.”
While health authorities and the mainstream media fueled fears that healthy young people, with virtually no symptoms, could ‘suddenly’ drop dead of Covid without warning, Alaskar’s own family have said they aren’t convinced the 27-year-old died from the virus.
The man’s cousin, Thijeel, told the Daily Mail the family had a long history of heart conditions and that he believes this was the cause of his death, not the virus.
This was reportedly confirmed by the paramedics who first arrived at the scene.
The Daily Mail reports: “Paramedics who responded to the emergency reportedly confirmed that he suffered heart failure, whereas the hospital specified that Covid was a contributing factor in his death.”
The family also told the Daily Telegraph that Alaskar had received a negative test result for Covid the day before his death.
Screenshots of comments allegedly made by Thijeel were also circulating on social media, in which the man’s cousin accused the media of making up stories.
“For those who are asking,” he said, “first of [all], no he did not die of Covid. There’s a history of heart problems that run in the family.”
The family said they will wait for the Coroner to confirm Alaskar’s cause of death.
As we’ve noted before, when the government, or mainstream media, either lies to the public, or even speaks in half-truths, it creates a suspicious people, hesitant to heed the warnings and advice from those who have abused the public’s trust.
They may lament the rise of “conspiracy theorists” and vaccine skeptics, but both of these are largely the product of the public’s perception of dishonest power.
It’s natural for people to search for more reasonable explanations of events when they feel they’re being lied to. But as is usually the case, whatever the government and media are attempting to build up with one hand, they undermine with the other.
