The first U.S. COVID death was reportedly a month before everyone thought
Kansas great-grandmother Lovell "Cookie" Brown died on Jan. 9, 2020. Originally, her death certificate cited "chronic obstructive lung disease," but it has since been updated to include COVID-19, making her the first official coronavirus death in the U.S.
The Mercury News reports that Brown's family only learned of the amendment to her death certificate this week. Previously, the first recorded COVID death in the U.S. was Feb. 6, 2020.
Peaches Foster, Brown's daughter, had wondered for a while if her mother had died from COVID. It was confirmed this week when she read "COVID-19 pneumonia" on her mother's revised death certificate — she "burst into tears," reports The Mercury News. It's still unclear where or how Brown may have contracted the virus.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
John Eplee, a Kansas state lawmaker and physician, told Mercury News that Brown's case suggests the virus was "percolating" in the U.S. "before experts realized it." Similarly, an investigation found that five other U.S. death certificates from Jan. 2020 had been amended to include COVID-19. Investigations like these spark questions about just how many unreported COVID cases and deaths there may be.
In May, University of Washington researchers analyzed COVID death rates and found that the roughly 600,000 death count in the U.S. is likely closer to one million, U.S. News reports. Globally, they attribute 6.9 million deaths to the coronavirus instead of the reported 3.2 million. Yes, you read that correctly — they believe twice as many people have died.
COVID-19 has apparently been sweeping through the U.S. since the very beginning of 2020 and no one knew. "I think this will go on forever," Eplee predicted. "We'll be gone, and we'll still be speculating about how and where it started." Read more at The Mercury News.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Magazine interactive crossword - May 3, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - May 3, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine solutions - May 3, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - May 3, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine printables - May 3, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - May 3, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Texas dairy worker gets bird flu from infected cow
Speed Read The virus has been spreading among cattle in Texas, Kansas, Michigan and New Mexico
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dengue hits the Americas hard and early
Speed Read Puerto Rico has declared an epidemic as dengue cases surge
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Covid four years on: have we got over the pandemic?
Today's Big Question Brits suffering from both lockdown nostalgia and collective trauma that refuses to go away
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
US bans final type of asbestos
Speed Read Exposure to asbestos causes about 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The hollow classroom
Opinion Remote school let kids down. It will take much more than extra tutoring for kids to recover.
By Mark Gimein Published
-
Excess screen time is making children only see what is in front of them
Under the radar The future is looking blurry. And very nearsighted.
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Covid-19: what to know about UK's new Juno and Pirola variants
in depth Rapidly spreading new JN.1 strain is 'yet another reminder that the pandemic is far from over'
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Long-term respiratory illness is here to stay
The Explainer Covid is not the only disease with a long version
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published