I considered that too, but discarded the idea for a few reasons.
First, he was young, and in one of the age brackets least likely to die from Covid-19.
Second, that he was self-isolating didn't mean he had it. He worked with a high-risk population, and self-isolating while at home was probably intended to protect Emery in case he brought it home, and protect his residents in case Emery brought it home. Granted, I don't know if he was still working at the time of his death.
Third--and the most tell-tale reason IMO--in being so young, and dying of Covid-19, his death would have been newsworthy. On top of that, there would have been no silence regarding his cause of death from the people who loved him--I can imagine his mother saying, "Covid-19 killed my 27-year-old son; it could kill your kids or young friends and relatives too, so please, take every precaution, because the danger is real." But she's said nothing to that effect.
I'm old enough to have seen a lot of young (or youngish) people die. When they die of cancer or some other terminal illness, the family is usually open about it. Ditto, if they die from an accident, or a sudden, unexpected illness that is clearly not their fault, and that they played no role in getting.
Where they get quiet is when it's a drug overdose or suicide. It's a rare parent who steps forward and tells everybody that their kid killed himself, or ODed. Their death is hard enough to deal with as it is; that they played an active role in their own death makes it even worse. There's still a lot of shame attached to those deaths, so those closest to the deceased will keep silent on it.
