BREAKING: First U.S. Coronavirus Death Confirmed
Saturday, February 29, 2020
A person diagnosed with coronavirus in King County in Washington state has died, according to health officials in the state on Saturday.
In a statement released Saturday, the Washington State Department of Health and Seattle and King County health officials said they will offer more details at a 4 p.m. EST. news conference. The agency will discuss the death and new confirmed cases in the county, according to the Washington Post
The CDC will be hosting a national media call at 3 p.m. today.
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The Spread is Increasing Globally
“More coronavirus infections were also reported from South Korea to France to Qatar on Saturday after health officials in Washington state, Oregon and California on Friday reported another worrying development: new cases among people who have not traveled recently to countries hit hard by the outbreak or come into contact with anyone known to have the disease, which public health officials refer to as community transmission,” said the Post.
As GoLocal reported earlier on Saturday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is aware of four new presumptive positive cases of COVID-19 announced by state public health authorities who are currently conducting investigations.
- California has announced a second possible instance of community spread.
- Oregon has announced its first possible instance of community spread.
The state of Washington has announced two presumptive cases. One is likely travel-related. The other is the state’s first possible instance of community spread.
According to the CDC, 'community spread' means the spread of an illness for which the source of infection is unknown. One previous possible instance of community spread was announced in California on February 26.
The four patients tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 in their respective states using the CDC-developed rRT-PCR. They are considered presumptive positive cases pending CDC confirmatory testing. However, CDC and State and local public health authorities are proceeding with public health investigations and response activities as if these were confirmed cases.
With both confirmed and presumptive positive cases, CDC recommends healthcare providers follow the Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Patients with Confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) or Persons Under Investigation for COVID-19 in Healthcare Settings.
These four cases bring the total number of COVID-19 cases detected through the U.S. public health system to 19.
The federal government has been working closely with state, local, tribal, and territorial partners, as well as public health partners, to respond to this public health threat. Unprecedented, aggressive efforts have been taken to contain the spread and mitigate the impact of this virus. CDC and federal partners have been preparing for the detection of additional instances of person-to-person spread of COVID-19 for weeks. The federal government will continue to respond aggressively to this rapidly evolving situation.
For more information about COVID-19 visit www.cdc.gov/covid19.
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