Coronavirus killed in California earlier than known. Newsom wants to re-examine more deaths
The first confirmed U.S. death from the coronavirus came in early February in Santa Clara County, more than three weeks earlier than what had been reported for nearly two months as the nation’s first COVID-19 death, in Washington state.
Following autopsies by its coroner’s office and tissue sample testing, Santa Clara County in a news release late Tuesday announced three new deaths that predated a March 9 COVID-19 fatality health officials had originally believed to be the county’s first.
Two of the deaths, individuals who died Feb. 6 and Feb. 17, occurred before what was previously reported as the nation’s first fatality, in Washington state on Feb. 28. The first death was a 57-year-old woman and the Feb. 17 death was a 69-year-old man, Santa Clara County health officials said during a Wednesday morning news conference.
The third Santa Clara County resident, a 70-year-old man, died March 6. All three of the new deaths occurred at home, the county said.
“Samples from the two individuals were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” the county news release said. “(On Tuesday), the Medical Examiner-Coroner received confirmation from the CDC that tissue samples from both cases are positive for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19).
“Additionally, the Medical Examiner-Coroner has also confirmed that an individual who died in the county on March 6 died of COVID-19.”
The autopsy results suggest that there could be numerous other uncounted deaths that occurred during the early weeks of its spread, but that were not linked to COVID-19 due to lack of testing.
“These three individuals died at home during a time when very limited testing was available only through the CDC,” the county’s news release continued. “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.
Gov. Gavin Newsom during Wednesday’s daily news briefing said he has called upon coroners and medical examiners to “go back as far as December” and perform autopsies on others who may have died from COVID-19 complications before the spreading coronavirus was detected in the state, “to ultimately guide a deeper understanding of when this pandemic really started to impact California directly.”
“When this occurred is important forensic information,” Newsom said.
Newsom also praised the coroner’s office and Santa Clara County officials for making the disclosure public soon after the results were returned.
“As the Medical Examiner-Coroner continues to carefully investigate deaths throughout the county, we anticipate additional deaths from COVID-19 will be identified,” the county news release said.
The revelation also shifts the timeline for coronavirus spread and deadliness across the U.S. as well as within California.
“We know there was a person diagnosed in late January with the virus — but to have at least three people right around the beginning of February and late January already have the infection and two of them pass away means the virus has been around for a while,” County Executive Jeff Smith told the Mercury News in San Jose.
Statewide, the first confirmed COVID-19 fatality had previously been reported as a Placer County resident who died March 4..
The first known case of the virus in the United States, which was linked to international travel, came Jan. 21. But the two February deaths disclosed by Santa Clara County happened before the first known instance of community transmission within the U.S. was reported Feb. 26 in Northern California, in a Solano County woman who was transported to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento for treatment.
Santa Clara’s health officer, Dr. Sara Cody, said that none of the earliest victims had traveled outside the country before they died or were known to be connected to someone infected with the virus.
“Now, in retrospect, we can look at these deaths, and these deaths let us know that we had more widespread transmission than we had previously understood or documented,” she told the San Francisco Chronicle. “Cases like these deaths likely represent the tips of icebergs of unknown size, and represent an unknown number of cases that have gone undetected in our community.”
This story was originally published April 22, 2020 at 7:20 AM.
