Health officials said Tuesday that the death of first-year
student Ka Yan “Karen” Kwok was not caused by an
infection that would pose a health risk to other students.
Kwok lived in Rieber Hall, and after feeling sick two weekends
ago, she returned home to visit her doctor on April 18. She was
then sent to Garfield Medical Center, where she died the morning of
April 20.
Because of the rapid nature of Kwok’s death, some students
have worried that she could have died of an infectious disease.
“We’ve heard those rumors. … I’ve heard
SARS, meningitis. I think people are speculating about what might
be happening,” said Jack Gibbons, Office of Residential Life
associate director.
Rick Greenwood, director of Environment, Health & Safety,
said Los Angeles Coroner’s Office officials told him Kwok
died of an infection related to her heart, and that whatever caused
her death was “not communicable.”
Craig Harvey, an L.A. Coroner’s Office spokesman, said the
examiner who performed the autopsy “doesn’t feel like
anybody would be at risk at this point.”
But Harvey added that because additional examination of tissue
samples could take up to 30 days, the office has “no way of
telling right now” what exactly caused Kwok’s
death.
ORL has been in contact with Kwok’s mother, who picked up
her daughter’s belongings from campus last week.
Funeral services for Kwok will be held Saturday at Rose Hills
Memorial Park in Whittier at 1 p.m.
Staff and residents on the Hill are planning a separate memorial
service, which will be held early next week in Rieber Hall.
For more information about funeral services, call Rose Hills
Memorial Park at (323) 723-5391.