Records four mystery cases without related travel history
A woman near Seattle has become the first novel coronavirus patient to die in the United States, health officials said Saturday.
Kay Taylor, a spokeswoman for EvergreenHealth, said the person who died was a patient at the organization’s hospital in Kirkland, Washington.
Lisa Stromme Warren, a spokeswoman with the Washington State Department of Health, confirmed the death and said officials with the state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be addressing the matter later in the day.
“It is a sad day in our state as we learn that a Washingtonian has died from Covid-19,” said a statement from Washington’s governor, Jay Inslee, adding, “We will continue to work toward a day where no one dies from this virus.”
Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the C.D.C., said there was no evidence that the woman had traveled recently or had contact with someone known to have the virus.
President Donald Trump said in a press briefing Saturday a coronavirus patient died overnight.
He described the patient as a “medically high-risk patient in her late 50s” and said she was “a wonderful woman.”
“I want to assure that family they are on the hearts of every American,” Vice President Mike Pence said.
Earlier, Washington Governor Jan Inslee referred to the patient as male.
The Washington State Department of Health confirms the first U.S. death from COVID-19 has occurred here in the state of Washington. We will share more information at a media briefing today at 1pm. Information to watch via livestream will be shared here. #COVID19
— WA Dept. of Health (@WADeptHealth) February 29, 2020
While this is the first death in the United States from the coronavirus, it is not the first death of an American.
A 60-year-old US citizen died earlier this month in the city of Wuhan, China, where the virus first appeared in late December.
Sixty-seven cases have been reported in the United States, among more than 85,000 globally. More than 2,900 people worldwide have died, most of them in China.
4 cases without related travel history
At least four US coronavirus patients have no travel history that would tie them to the virus, health officials say.
A woman in Oregon and a high school boy in Washington State are presumptive positives, which means their tests were conducted at local labs but the results have not yet been confirmed by the CDC.
The other two mystery cases are from California.
An older woman in Santa Clara County who had been hospitalised for a respiratory illness tested positive for the virus but had no relevant travel history or contact with anyone infected, health officials said.
“This new case indicates that there is evidence of community transmission, but the extent is still not clear,” said Dr. Sara Cody, director of the county’s public health department.
The other California case is a Solano County woman who is hospitalized at UC Davis Medical Center and in serious condition.
The two counties are about 90 miles apart. The Santa Clara patient had not traveled to Solano County, officials said.
With an increase in cases with unknown origins and a change in testing guidelines across the country, CDC officials said they were hoping to have every state and local health department testing for the virus by the end of next week.
As of early Saturday, there were at least 67 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the US — the majority of which were repatriated passengers from the Diamond Princess Cruise ship. Worldwide, the virus has killed at least 2,922 — including 2,835 people in China — and there have been 85,055 confirmed cases.
The World Health Organization has “increased our assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of impact of COVID-19 to very high at a global level,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday, referring to the WHO’s formal name for the disease caused by the virus.
“The continued increase in the number of cases,” he said, “and the number of affected countries over the last few days, are clearly of concern.”
Here’s what else you need to know heading into the weekend:
States announce presumptive positives
Oregon Health Authority officials confirmed the state’s first presumptive case Friday — a Washington County resident with no history of related travel nor close contact with another confirmed case, the agency said in a news release.
“As such, public health officials are considering it a likely community-transmitted case, meaning that the origin of the infection is unknown,” the release said.
Officials said the patient is in isolation.
“We are awaiting confirmation of the test results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but at this time we are considering this a presumptive case,” said State Epidemiologist and State Health Officer Dean Sidelinger in a statement.
It’s likely there are more coronavirus cases in the United States than the numbers show
Officials also haven’t traced how a Washington state high school boy was infected.
Those test results were also presumptive positive.
The student, a Snohomish County resident, is doing well, said Dr. Chris Spitters, interim health officer for the Snohomish Health District.
The patient is one of two presumptive positive cases in the state.
A woman from King County tested positive at the state’s Public Health Laboratory and is in home isolation, according to a release from the Washington State Health Department. Her test is awaiting confirmation from the CDC.
She visited South Korea for about two weeks earlier this month, according to Dr. Jeff Duchin, health officer at Public Health of Seattle & King County.
The woman returned and worked for one day before noticing symptoms.
She developed a fever, cough, some nausea, a headache and a sore throat, Duchin said in a news conference Friday.
Officials are now investigating the woman’s workplace and anyone she may have come in contact with, he said.
Trump announces new travel restrictions and addresses first U.S. coronavirus death.
Meanwhile, Trump on Saturday authorised new restrictions on travelers who have been in Iran and additional screenings of those coming from Italy and South Korea.
New York Times/CNN
