Public health officials in Santa Clara County, California, announced on Tuesday that two individuals had died from COVID-19 earlier than what was previously believed to be the first death of a COVID-19 patient.
According to the announcement, Santa Clara’s medical examiner-coroner discovered that the two people had died at home on February 6 and February 17, meaning the first death from the virus in the U.S. actually occurred weeks before the first announced death on February 29 in Washington state.
The county officials noted that the individuals had passed away “when very limited testing was available” by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which had only tested people who went to medical facilities with “specific symptoms” and with “a known travel history.”
Therefore, the county’s medical examiner-coroner may find even more early deaths, according to the officials.
“As the Medical Examiner-Coroner continues to carefully investigate deaths throughout the county, we anticipate additional deaths from COVID-19 will be identified,” they said.
It would be nice if they shared more information about these deceased individuals. Did they travel? Any relatives or friends infected? Do they have any idea of the source of their infection? Ages?
If you think the US has gone as low as possible related to the virus and now deporting sick immigrants, think again.
WaPo, no paywall
U.S. is deporting infected migrants back to vulnerable countries as governments struggle to respond
News is reporting that neither had any travel history and that the assumption is that both are examples of community spread.
They may be sick, but we’re sicker.
A friend of mine’s brothers were in China in Dec for work. Both came back to CA sick. They recovered, but, who would have known to look out for Covid then?