First U.S. Virus Death Came Weeks Before Previously Thought

(Bloomberg) --

The first U.S. deaths from the new coronavirus came weeks earlier than was previously known, suggesting the virus may have long been spreading outside of health officials’ attempts to contain it earlier this year.

Two residents of Santa Clara County, California, who died at home on Feb. 6 and Feb. 17 were infected with the virus, according to a statement Tuesday by the county’s public health department.

The first death, in a 57-year-old woman, was 20 days earlier than what was previously thought to be the first U.S. fatality, and about three weeks before health officials identified the first Covid-19 infection without a known tie to other cases. The second death was in a 69-year-old man.

The deaths were also weeks before cities and states began implementing widespread social-distancing measures.

“What these deaths tell us is we had community transmission to a significant degree far earlier than we had known,” Sara Cody, director of Santa Clara’s public health department, said during a press conference Wednesday.

A third death in a 70-year-old man, she said, occurred on March 6, three days before the county originally reported its first fatality. None of the people had significant travel history, pointing to what Cody said was likely a “significant” amount of the virus circulating locally long before anyone realized. All died at home.

Little Testing

At the time of the first of the newly identified deaths, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had identified only 11 cases of the virus. All were either travelers from abroad or had connections to known U.S. cases.

Previously, the first report of a U.S. death from Covid-19 had come on Feb. 29 in Washington state. Days afterward, two earlier deaths in Washington state were attributed to the viral illness, both occurring on Feb. 26.

U.S. attempts to track the virus at the time were hampered by shortages of tests and highly limited criteria for who could be tested. In early February, the U.S. was still relying on the CDC for all testing of potential cases. Tests sent out by the agency to state and local health labs later that month turned out to be unusable, and widespread testing only became available weeks later.

“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,” Santa Clara County’s public health department said in the statement from earlier Wednesday. “We anticipate additional deaths from Covid-19 will be identified.”

How Many People?

Researchers in California have been trying to understand how far the disease has spread in the state. There are only about 36,000 confirmed cases there, compared with more than 258,000 in New York. One study, which has attracted criticism of its methods and hasn’t been published in an academic journal, estimated that 2.5% to 4.2% of people in Santa Clara County may have already been infected. Similar research is being conducted around the country.

President Donald Trump’s administration has been under fire for its early response to the virus after the World Health Organization declared an international health emergency at the end of January. Trump has said he responded effectively by limiting travel from China.

The first two Santa Clara County deaths were confirmed by samples from autopsies sent to the CDC, and the county confirmed the third. Cody said that the medical examiner was concerned the deaths were due to infectious disease and so “just sort of didn’t close the cases.”

“We know that these deaths are really like iceberg tips,” she said. “With three of them, that tells us there must have been a significant degree of community transmission.”

The county didn’t give an exact cause of death for first two patients. Because they died at home medical records of their symptoms may be more limited.

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