COVID-19 Killed Woman In 30s On Plane In Arizona

A Texas woman died of COVID-19 aboard a plane on the tarmac at an Arizona airport, Dallas County health officials confirmed. The death occurred July 25 but was just reported this week.

The woman, from Garland, about 25 miles northeast of Dallas, was described as in her 30s with underlying high-risk health conditions.

There was no immediate word on which airline was involved or at which airport the incident occurred. The flight was described as domestic.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins told NBC affiliate KXAS-TV, Dallas, the woman was suffering from a breathing problem and was given oxygen. She died on a jetway, Jenkins said.

No further details were released.

"I would strongly encourage people to not think they’re invincible from COVID because they don’t think they’re in a high-risk category," Jenkins told BuzzFeed.

Around the time of the woman’s death, coronavirus cases were trending higher in Dallas County, spiking two weeks after her death at about 5,000 new cases per day. The county has reported 89,987 confirmed infections and 1,194 deaths.

Statewide in Texas, there have been 828,525 confirmed cases of the virus and 17,013 deaths. Arizona has had 231,897 confirmed cases and 5,830 deaths.

The announcement comes amid a push by airlines to use rapid COVID testing to encourage people to resume traveling.

The number of coronavirus cases has been on the rise in recent weeks. Since March, there have been more than 8.2 million infections in the U.S., with deaths topping 220,000.