SEATTLE (AP) – The Washington State Department of Health has confirmed that at least four Washingtonians died of complications from COVID-19 on or before February 28, 2020, the first known death in Washington and the United States announced. date.
In a recent review of the state’s earliest COVID-19 deaths, the three who died before the initial announcement were from the Life Care Center, a long-term care facility in Kirkland, the first known coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., The Seattle Times reported. location.
State health officials now believe the first person to die in Washington was a Snohomish County woman in her 30s.
That death occurred on February 24, 2020. The woman had a travel history and underlying health conditions, according to Kari Bray, a spokeswoman for the Snohomish County Public Health Department.
But because the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office did not investigate her cause of death, there is little other publicly available information.
Bob Anderson, director of mortality statistics at a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said recently that it was not uncommon for authorities to miss some early COVID-19 deaths in the country.
“Doctors often don’t know what they’re looking at and don’t have much experience with COVID-19,” he said.
While some missed deaths may not have much of an impact from a public health perspective, it’s important to keep records as accurate as possible, he said.
