Autopsy: Santa Clara patient died of COVID-19 on Feb. 6 — 23 days before 1st U.S. death declared

FILE - In this March 16, 2020 photo, Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County Public Health Officer, speaks during a press conference headed by public health directors spanning six Bay Area counties in San Jose, Calif. less FILE - In this March 16, 2020 photo, Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County Public Health Officer, speaks during a press conference headed by public health directors spanning six Bay Area counties in San Jose, ... more Photo: Dai Sugano, AP Photo: Dai Sugano, AP Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Autopsy: Santa Clara patient died of COVID-19 on Feb. 6 — 23 days before 1st U.S. death declared 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

Health officials said Tuesday that new autopsy results show a patient in Santa Clara, Calif., died of COVID-19 on Feb. 6, several weeks before the United States declared its first novel coronavirus death.

The finding suggests that the virus was circulating in the San Francisco Bay Area earlier than previously thought.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the first fatality due to coronavirus complications in the United States on Feb. 28. The patient was a resident of Kirkland, Wash.

Now, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department has identified two individuals who died of COVID-19 at home on Feb. 6 and Feb. 17. The health department said samples were sent to the CDC and the results were shared Tuesday.

The department also received the results of a third autopsy finding from a patient who was confirmed to have died from COVID-19 on March 6.

All three of these deaths occurred at a time when testing for the virus was extremely limited.

The county originally said its first coronavirus death was on March 9. This new report finds three deaths happened before this date.

"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 Health Department said in a statement.

Amy Graff is a digital editor with SFGATE. Email her: [email protected].

chayton6 on April 22nd, 2020 at 13:52 UTC »

My dad died January 26th after having a cold for a week. We were all floored because a cold shouldn't be fatal. He tested negative for flu.

RedditMayne on April 22nd, 2020 at 06:06 UTC »

Just curious: how long do they keep blood/tissue samples from deceased folks so that back-tracking a virus’ previous course is possible? I know that they were able to pinpoint the first HIV case to a decade or more than previously thought using this same method.

baronvonflapjack on April 22nd, 2020 at 06:04 UTC »

I know the plural of anecdote isn't data, but here's my wife's story- we had Thanksgiving with the family of one of my son's friends. Their grandma flew out from Wuhan to help, as they have a new baby.

Except, grandma got very sick soon after she arrived. She still toughed it out and helped here and there during dinner.

Then, a week before Christmas, my wife gets the worst flu she's ever, ever had. She's a teacher and tends to be a germ magnet, but this one really knocked her out. All the classic COVID symptoms, even loss of smell and taste.

Never went to the Dr. or anything, she laid in bed for 4 days or so then slowly recovered. We have always thought she might have had it, but we were always told it was impossible.

BTW we live in Southern California.