SAN ANTONIO — Some Texas counties are performing post-mortem COVID-19 tests on the recently deceased and health officials say the practice offers a better understanding of the impact of the virus on the community. One San Antonio family found out their loved one died from the virus only after he was gone.


What You Need To Know

  • Stewart Hickman died in June from the novel coronavirus

  • Wasn't tested for the virus until after his death

  • Health officials say they can learn more about the virus from post-mortem testing

Monday afternoon, Crystina Hickman was looking through boxes of handmade toys and toy parts. Other boxes included old notes, books from childhood, memorabilia from the movie theaters, and other mementos. She said these boxes were full of imagination and memories. They belonged to her late husband, Stewart Lee Hickman, Jr., who was an avid toymaker.

“I like that he was able to be himself, have something that he was passionate about. No shame to it,” she said. 

Her husband unexpectedly died almost a month ago. His family said the 41-year-old artist and poet was honest and creative, and kind enough to help a stranger. 

“I liked making things as a child. He brought back all the best parts honestly, and he’s made it so I can still hold on to them,” she said. 

“I couldn't even hug (Crystina), give her any of the support you normally give a member of your family when you lose someone, and that's the hardest thing,” Hickman’s mother-in-law, Eva, said. 

Stewart Hickman, who had allergies and asthma, was feeling coronavirus symptoms in June when he decided to quarantine. One evening, he went to sleep and did not wake up. He was only tested for the virus after he died.

Crystina Hickman looking through a box of her late husband's belongings. (Spectrum News)

San Antonio Metropolitan Health District officials say their post-mortem surveillance program, a collaboration with the Medical Examiner’s Office, is one of the few of its kind in the country. If a person died and reportedly had the signs and symptoms of the virus and does not have documentation of getting tested, the medical examiner will test them post-mortem. Metro Health staff members work to verify the data to make sure there are no duplicate cases reported.

“Understanding the epidemic and the breadth and the burden of COVID-19 and SARS CoV-2 infection in the community really relies on understanding who has passed away due to this disease and due to this viral infection. The challenge I think that we might face as places try to ramp up this kind of testing is all the same challenges to testing and supply chain and results turnaround are going to apply in the situation," Dr. Rebecca Fischer, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Texas A&M's School of Public Health, said. 

Eva Hickman told Spectrum News counties should expand such testing if they want to get the true statistics, but understands some do not have enough resources. 

“If you have to the ability to do it, they should,” she said. 

For his family, Stewart Hickman’s positive test result was a fear they didn’t want realized. Now that is has, they want his story the help others understand the seriousness of the virus. 

“It can happen to anyone, so that's what I'm trying to stress is just be cautious in what you do. Be respectful of others,” Eva Hickman said. 

As state and local leaders work to determine the scale of the virus, the family is urging Texans to do their part, too.

“Someone that you let within six feet of you should be someone that you let into your home, and if they're not, they don't need to be that close,” Crystina Hickman said. 

In the weeks after Stewart Hickman’s death, his wife Crystina said she will keep looking in other boxes to find reasons to smile. 

“It’s sometimes an overwhelming sparkle,” she said. 

A friend started a GoFundMe page to help the Hickman family.