1st U.S. coronavirus death was Feb. 6, not Feb. 28, California autopsies confirm

Downtown Palo Alto amid coronavirus
(Image credit: Glenn Chapman/AFP/Getty Images)

California's Santa Clara County announced Tuesday that autopsies had uncovered three early deaths from the COVID-19 coronavirus, including a person who died at home on Feb. 6. Previously, the earliest recorded U.S. death from COVID-19 was Feb. 28 in Kirkland, Washington. Since deaths usually occur about month after exposure to the coronavirus, the implication is that COVID-19 was spreading in the Bay Area by early January. The coronavirus was first confirmed to have entered the U.S. on Jan. 21.

The autopsies also found the coronavirus in a second person who died at home on Feb. 17 and another resident who died March 6, three days earlier than the previously known first COVID-19 death in Santa Clara County. That March 9 death prompted the Silicon Valley area to ban public gatherings, and it was one of five Bay Area counties to institute the nation's first lockdown on March 16.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.