First US Coronavirus Deaths Took Place Weeks Before Initially Thought

The first American to die of COVID-19 took place in early and mid-February, according autopsies at the Santa Clara Medical Examiner-Coroner. "Until the new revelations, the first COVID-19 death had been identified as a man in his 50s in Washington state who died Feb. 29," reports The Hill. From the report: The two people died at home on Feb. 6 and Feb. 17, making them the earliest-known victims of the coronavirus in the United States, the Santa Clara County public health department confirmed in a statement on Tuesday. The county health department said both individuals "died at home during a time when very limited testing was available only through the CDC." "Testing criteria set by the CDC at the time restricted testing to only individuals with a known travel history and who sought medical care for specific symptoms," it added. "As the Medical Examiner-Coroner continues to carefully investigate deaths throughout the county, we anticipate additional deaths from COVID-19 will be identified."

Santa Clara County officials did not identify either of the two individuals who died, whether they had traveled to Wuhan or elsewhere, or whether they had contact with the few people who had been diagnosed with the disease before they died. But reclassifying their deaths as related to the coronavirus suggests the virus had been spreading through the United States for much longer than was initially thought -- potentially for weeks or even months longer.

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