"When the Ambulance Arrived, He Almost Howled"

The brother of the deceased BSAM student told how it all happened.

21-year-old Artsem Kazlou died today in the BNTU dormitory, where he was quarantined due to the coronavirus disease. The guy had symptoms about two weeks ago, but later, as the student himself reported, he got better. This morning, the young man had seizures similar to epileptic seizures. An ambulance arrived but failed to save the student. Artsem's brother Aliaksei told onliner.by how everything happened.

- Artsem was ill for almost two weeks; he started getting better. Two weeks ago, on Thursday, he was not very well: cough, the temperature of 37.3-37.5, which lasted until Saturday. We said: "Artsem, don't sit there; go to the doctor." On Monday, he went to the doctor, had a smear; he felt good, and the doctor measured his temperature - 36.9, but his sense of smell disappeared. My brother returned to the dorm; he was placed on the first-level contact floor, where he was doing very well. On Wednesday, a positive test result came. When the COVID was confirmed, he was sent to the BNTU dormitory for patients with coronavirus in the evening. Artsem felt fine, packed his things, he had a bunch of bags, - recalls Aliaksei.

He says that the sick were allowed out of the dormitory only for two hours a day: from 15 to 17 o'clock, they were given the opportunity to buy food and medicine.

- He complained that it was cold in the hostel, but he died, of course, not from this. On the first night, Artsem felt worse: he got tachycardia and shortness of breath. His neighbor in the dormitory drew attention to this. The next morning, his heart hurt, but on Thursday and Friday, everything was fine. There was practically no fever; only the sense of smell was absent. On Saturday night, Artsem felt bad again: again, shortness of breath and tachycardia, only it lasted longer, about an hour. In general, everything was uncritical; they waited for the morning, called an ambulance. By the time the ambulance arrived, Artsem felt better. The oxygen level in the blood was very high, at 97%. The cardiogram showed a slight deviation from the norm, but if the ambulance did not hospitalize, there was nothing critical. The doctors calmed Artsem; a little later, a therapist came. He again measured the saturation - that time, the oxygen level was 93 or 92%, - recalls the brother of the deceased. - We also called Artsem, calmed him, because my brother was very scared, he said that he did not want to die.

Then - from Sunday to Tuesday - the guy felt good; his sense of smell began to return. In fact, the student was ill for two weeks, and relatives believed that he was recovering.

"But a misfortune happened that night. My brother's neighbor woke up at four in the morning because Artsem was making strange sounds. He was breathing heavily; his eyes rolled back, foam came out of his mouth, like during epilepsy. Artsem was conscious; he said that he felt bad. The guys immediately called an ambulance; by the time the doctors arrived, my brother began to shake; the doctors told the guys to hold his head. The doctors gave an injection, after which the brother felt better; he was put on the floor, the guys were told to leave the room. According to them, they were outside the door for about an hour. Then the doctors came out of the room and said that Artsem had not been saved; he had died. They didn't really explain anything. Later, the police came and asked questions. It turns out that, for an hour, my brother was dying, and quite painfully; when the ambulance arrived, he almost howled. It's awful, - says Aliaksei.

Now Artsem's family is awaiting an autopsy; it will be done tomorrow in the morning. His brother says that the guy never suffered from epilepsy, was rarely ill, he had no chronic diseases, but, since August, the student began to catch cold often. One and a half to two weeks before the first symptoms of coronavirus, he seems to have had a simple cold.

- COVID-19 is an unpredictable thing; it could affect the nervous system. We are very sorry that it happened that they could not save Artyom. But we don't blame anyone for this. We were all sure that my brother had a mild course of the disease: he did not have a consistent fever, he did not have wheezing. Before that, my wife and I had been ill with COVID, it was without any problems or complications. The last days of his life, Artsem felt good, and what happened to him became an absolutely sudden grief for all of us, - says Aliaksei.

According to his brother, since childhood, Artsem had musical abilities; his parents sent him to a music school, he played the accordion, was fond of the bass guitar. He studied in the third year of the Academy of Music, moonlighted as an accompanist at children's events. On December 22, Artsem would have turned 22 years old.

- When my father called and said: "Lesha, hold on. Your brother is dead." It was a completely sudden blow. At 1 am, Artsem was still online. His cousin talked to him, he answered. Nothing foreshadowed trouble. We were all sure that he was getting better, we cheered him up: now many are sick with coronavirus, young people generally bear it easily. We did not want him to have panic. Now, there are enough seriously ill patients, and we understood that doctors would not take every second student because of shortness of breath to a CT scan. We are sure that the doctors did everything in their power to save Artsem. It is very difficult when it happens to your family. All the time, we ask ourselves the question: "Why him?" This is some kind of horror, - sums up the brother of the deceased.