George Floyd Had Coronavirus, Autopsy Says

George Floyd, whose in-custody death in Minneapolis last week triggered an avalanche of protests over the mistreatment of black people by police, tested positive for the coronavirus weeks before his death, an autopsy report released Wednesday shows.

The 20-page document released by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office says a test of Floyd on April 3 was positive for the virus' genetic code, or RNA.

Because that RNA can remain in someone's body for weeks after the disease is gone, the autopsy says, a second positive test after his death likely meant that Floyd, 46, was asymptomatic from an earlier infection when he died May 25.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said a positive RNA test doesn't necessarily mean the person is infectious. It wasn't immediately clear whether Floyd developed symptoms earlier in the year or was an asymptomatic carrier.