Jack Allard Bates All-American battling COVID-19 as the ex lacrosse star is now put on experimental drugs. Star athlete’s infection throws into question who is vulnerable.
A 25-year-old New Jersey star athlete is fighting for his life in an induced coma after doctors lost his coronavirus test results that confirmed he had the deadly virus.
Jack Allard a former Bates College all-American lacrosse player has been on a ventilator in a medically-induced coma for six days at a hospital in Edison.
Allard, who works at the Bank of America in Manhattan, first became sick on March 13.
He was suffering from a high fever, back pain and had been throwing up.
Allard initially didn’t present as a typical coronavirus patient given his age, along with having no pre-existing conditions, nor had he traveled overseas recently.
The former lacrosse star throws into dispute that only aged and those individuals with underlying medical woes are the most susceptible to being infected.
Offered Bates men’s lacrosse coach Peter Lasagna, ‘He led our team in scoring in 2014, ‘15 and ‘16. He is really skilled, but also a tenacious competitor. He’s just at a different level.’
His mother, Genny Allard, told ABC News that the lab that was processing his COVID-19 test somehow lost his sample.
She said it set back his treatment about five days.
Due to the delay in returning a positive COVID-19 test, Allard was preempted access to potentially life-saving experimental drugs.
Coronavirus CAN seriously impact young and healthy people. 25-year-old Jack Allard was a stand-out lacrosse player at Bate College and had no pre-existing conditions. Now, he’s on a ventilator fighting for his life. Details coming up on @newscentermaine pic.twitter.com/FXokap7WA9
— Hannah Dineen (@hannah_dineen) March 25, 2020
Star athlete who should never have contracted now on experimental drugs:
His mother has since condemned health officials given NBA players have been granted access to tests but her son’s testing was bungled.
‘There’s no reason why NBA players with their sniffles are getting their results before my son who is on a ventilator,’ Genny said.
‘My son is healthy, no pre-existing conditions and he’s 25 – this virus is really dangerous and now he is very, very sick.’
There are currently 4,402 confirmed cases in New Jersey and 62 deaths.
Allard has since been airlifted to the University of Pennsylvania to be part of a clinical trial for the novel antiviral drug remdesivir.
Currently, there are no FDA-approved drugs, vaccines or specific treatments for the coronavirus. A few existing and experimental drugs are being studied, and vaccines are being developed.
Remdesivir, originally developed for Ebola, is being tested in at least five experiments. The drug interferes with viral reproduction and has shown some promise in lab and animal studies against other coronaviruses that cause similar diseases, MERS and SARS.
The drug has been given to hundreds of COVID-19 patients thus far, but rigorous studies are needed to determine if it works before it is approved.
