A patient infected with the novel coronavirus in Washington state has died, a state health official said Saturday, marking the first death due to the virus in the United States.
The patient was a man in his 50s who had underlying health conditions, according to Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, health officer for Seattle and King County, Washington state. President Donald Trump and US officials previously said in a press briefing that the patient was a woman.
Earlier, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee referred to the patient as male.
“I want to assure that family they are on the hearts of every American,” Vice President Mike Pence said.
There was no evidence the patient had close contact with an infected person or a relevant travel history that would have exposed the patient to the virus, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at the White House Saturday, suggesting the patient became ill through community spread.
Health officials previously said at least 4 US coronavirus patients had no travel history that would tie them to the virus
https://mobile.twitter.com/WADeptHealth/status/1233822246201741313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-33484086753706872875.ampproject.net%2F2002192257490%2Fframe.html
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.
US officials, including the President and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, urged Americans not to panic.
“It’s important to remember,” Azar said, “for the vast majority of individuals who contract the novel coronavirus, they will experience mild to moderate symptoms, and their treatment will be to remain at home, treating their symptoms, the way they would a severe cold, or the flu.”
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 cases of unknown origin are from California.
An older woman in Santa Clara County who had been hospitalized 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.
Theother 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.
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.”
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 Dean Sidelinger in a statement.
