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The US just reported its first coronavirus death — a patient in Washington. Here's what we know about the 69 US patients.
Aria Bendix, Rosie Perper and Lauren Frias
1 hour ago
Medical staff members work with a patient in Wuhan, China. THE CENTRAL HOSPITAL OF WUHAN VIA WEIBO /via REUTERS
- A man in his 50s has died in King County, Washington — the first death from the coronavirus on US soil.
- The US has at least 69 confirmed coronavirus cases.
- The cases include 44 people who were on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan and three people evacuated from China.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
A coronavirus patient has died in the Seattle area, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee confirmed on Saturday. The case marks the first coronavirus death on US soil.
The US has reported at least 69 cases of the virus, which originated in Wuhan, China, in December.
The coronavirus causes a disease known as COVID-19. More than 2,900 people have died and nearly 86,000 others have been infected globally, more than 90% of whom are in China.
Officials have recorded several potential cases of "community spread" in the US — patients who had no known exposure to the virus or travel history in China.
Forty-four passengers who were quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship were repatriated after disembarking the vessel. Three evacuees from Wuhan also tested positive for the coronavirus.
For the latest case total, death toll, and travel information, see Business Insider's live updates here.
Here's everything we know about the cases in the US.
A man in his 50s in Washington state has died from the coronavirus — the first death from the virus on US soil.
A view of downtown Seattle from Smith Tower, on May 12, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. Suzi Pratt/Getty
The man died at EvergreenHealth, a regional healthcare network based in Seattle. Washington state health officials said the he had chronic underlying health problems, putting him at high risk of developing a severe case of the virus.
"It is a sad day in our state as we learn that a Washingtonian has died from COVID-19," Inslee said in a statement. "Our hearts go out to his family and friends. We will continue to work toward a day where no one dies from this virus."
A letter sent by EvergreenHealth, obtained by KIRO, said the man tested positive for the coronavirus Friday night and did not have a history of travel to China.
The CDC said the risk to the US public remains low, but the agency may recommend canceling large public events in Washington state if the virus spreads further there.
"In all likelihood, there is ongoing low-level transmission" in Washington, Francis Riedo, an infectious-disease specialist at EvergreenHealth, said at a press conference on Saturday.
The CDC confirmed two more infections in Washington on Saturday.
Seattle, Washington, in 2018. Ted S. Warren / AP
One patient, a woman in her 70s, had been in a long-term care facility in King County, Washington. On a Saturday press call, King County public health officer Jeffrey Duchin said that a healthcare worker at the facility had been infected as well. Neither patient had a known travel history to China.
Approximately 27 out of 108 residents at the facility and 25 out 180 staff members have shown symptoms of the virus, Duchin said.
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A day earlier, Washington state announced two additional cases.
A sign is taped to a door at Bothell High School on February 27, 2020 in Bothell, Washington. School district officials decided to close the school for disinfecting after a family member of a school staffer was quarantined for possible coronavirus. Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images
One case was a woman in her 50s who recently returned to King County from Daegu, South Korea, where the virus is spreading rapidly. She went to work for a day before reporting flu-like symptoms and self-quarantining at home. Her husband, who did not travel with her, is under quarantine but has not shown any symptoms yet. Officials said the woman was doing well and did not need hospitalization.
The second case likely involves community spread — the patient had not travelled to an impacted country or had any known interaction with an infected person, officials said. The patient is a student at Jackson High School,in Snohomish County, and has been isolated at home after testing positive. He went to Seattle Children's North Clinic on Monday. His school will be closed on Monday to allow for deep cleaning, local station KEPR reported.
A case was also reported in Washington County, Oregon, on Friday.
Coronavirus test kits in Krasnodar, Russia, on February 4, 2020. AP Photo
Oregon officials announced the state's first coronavirus case on Friday: an adult who tested positive for the virus at Kaiser Permanente Westside Medical Center.
Officials did not release more details on the individual but mentioned they worked at the Forest Hills Elementary School in Clackamas County. The patient appeared to have acquired the virus through community spread.
Pat Allen, the director of Oregon's Public Health Authority, said health officials are investigating to see who might have come in contact with the patient.
Another case was reported in the San Francisco Bay Area on Friday.
Travelers arrive to LAX Tom Bradley International Terminal wearing medical masks on February 2, 2020. Getty Images
The case was the third in Santa Clara County. It, too, was an instance of community spread. The 65-year-old patient had no travel history in countries with coronavirus outbreaks and no known connection to anyone who had gotten sick.
The first case of community spread in the US was reported on Wednesday — another California patient with no known exposure to the virus. The patient is in serious condition.
Travelers arrive at LAX airport wearing face masks for protection against the coronavirus on February 2, 2020. David McNew/Getty Images
A resident of Solano County, California, was admitted to UC Davis Medical Center on February 19 after previously being admitted to another hospital. The patient wasn't tested for the coronavirus for four days after that, however, because they didn't meet the CDC criteria for testing.
The CDC said the person wasn't exposed to any known patients that had the virus, nor did they travel anywhere with confirmed cases. That's a sign that the virus could be spreading in the US.
"This does appear to be a person who genuinely did acquire their illness in the community," Solano County public health officer Bela Matyas said in a Thursday news conference.
The repatriated group includes 44 passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship who got the coronavirus.
The cruise ship Diamond Princess anchored at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama on February 7, 2020. Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
Japanese authorities imposed a 14-day quarantine on the cruise ship after a person tested positive for the coronavirus, but 690 passengers wound up with COVID-19.
Last week, 328 Americans who were on the ship were flown back to the US. On the evacuation flight, 14 US citizens who'd tested positive for the virus flew in an isolation box, while others who'd been on the ship sat in a separate area. Thirty more people later got sick.
Passengers on the cruise have been quarantined at two US military bases — the Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California, and the Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas — for two weeks.
Health experts have criticized the decision to quarantine people on the ship, suggesting that the confined spaces and poor hygiene practices on board may have helped the virus spread.
At least three people tested positive for the virus after arriving in the US on evacuation flights from Wuhan.
The Lackland Air Force Base. Lackland Air Force Base
A patient tested positive for the virus while under a mandatory 14-day federal quarantine at the Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas. The quarantine started February 7 after evacuees arrived from Wuhan on a flight charted by the state department.
The CDC said the person was isolated and is receiving treatment at a nearby hospital.
Two more evacuees tested positive while under quarantine at the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego, California. Those two patients arrived on different planes and were housed in different quarantine facilities, according to the CDC. Both were sent to local hospitals.
In total, the US government has evacuated around 800 Americans from Wuhan.
A largely empty train travels to Wuhan from Shanghai on January 23. HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images
They've all been quarantined at US military bases, and many have since been released.
Two coronavirus cases were reported in Sacramento, California, on February 21.
People wearing face masks play table tennis at a park, following an outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the country, in Beijing. Reuters
Both patients had recently traveled to China and isolated themselves upon returning to the US. One is in Sacramento County, and that patient is no longer symptomatic, according to public-health officials. The other is in Humboldt County and also doing well.
A case in Wisconsin was confirmed on February 5.
The Wisconsin patient had "a history of travel to Beijing, China, prior to becoming ill," according to the state's health department.
The individual was quarantined at home, officials added, but they declined to provide further details.
"The risk of getting sick from 2019 novel coronavirus in Wisconsin is very low," state health officer Jeanne Ayers said in a statement. "We are responding aggressively to the situation and monitoring all developments."
Two cases were confirmed in San Benito County, California, on February 2.
US evacuees who were in China leave an aircraft that was chartered by the State Department to evacuate government employees and other Americans from Wuhan. Mike Blake/Reuters
The San Benito County Health and Human Services Agency announced that the coronavirus patients there are a husband and a wife, both 57 years old. The man recently traveled to Wuhan then passed the virus to his wife after returning to California.
The couple was transferred by a specialty ambulance to a hospital at the University of California, San Francisco after both patients "showed worsening symptoms," the San Benito health agency said in a statement.
Before that, health officials announced another case in California: a woman in the San Francisco Bay Area.
A warning sign in San Francisco. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
The Santa Clara County Public Health Department said the woman contracted the virus while visiting Wuhan.
"She has stayed home since she arrived except for two times to seek outpatient medical care," Sara Cody, the county's health officer, told reporters. "She has been regularly monitored and was never sick enough to be hospitalized."
The woman's family was also isolated and remained in their home, Cody added.
The first coronavirus case in Santa Clara County was confirmed on January 31.
Face masks at a store in East Palo Alto, California. Yichuan Cao/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Officials said the two cases in Santa Clara County were not related. The other patient was a man who also recently visited China: He returned from a trip to Wuhan and Shanghai on January 24.
Cody said the patient did not leave his home except to seek medical care, so he came into contact with "very few individuals" after his return from China. However, he visited the Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, where five healthcare workers were exposed to the coronavirus. They were told to stay home until February 11.
The man did not need to be hospitalized and was being treated at home, Cody said.
On February 1, Massachusetts health officials confirmed that a man there who'd recently returned from Wuhan had contracted the illness.
BSIP/UIG Via Getty Images
Department officials said in a statement that the man was in his 20s and lived in Boston.
He sought medical care shortly after arriving in the US, and authorities monitored his contacts for symptoms.
Three other US cases were confirmed on January 26: two in California and one in Arizona.
People at Hong Kong International Airport on January 23. VIVEK PRAKASH/AFP via Getty Images)
On January 22, a Wuhan resident who was traveling through Los Angeles International Airport on his way to China told airport staff that he wasn't feeling well and was immediately taken to a local hospital.
Another case was identified in Orange County. The patient there was kept in isolation at a hospital.
In Arizona, meanwhile, a patient in Maricopa County was isolated. Health officials described the person as "a member of the Arizona State University community" who did not live in university housing.
All three people had recently traveled to the US from Wuhan.
A woman in her 60s in Chicago was the second confirmed case in the US.
The Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington. Reuters
The woman traveled to Wuhan in December to care for her elderly father, then returned to Chicago on January 13.
She did not exhibit any symptoms while traveling but told her doctor a few days after returning that she was feeling unwell. She was sent to a local hospital, where she was isolated and given fluids. Doctors treated her symptoms much like they would treat pneumonia.
As of January 24, the woman was in stable condition, according to Chicago's ABC7 News. Local health officials said she did not take public transportation or attend any public gatherings.
"I want to start by stating clearly: This is a single travel-associated case, not a local emergency," said Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, according to ABC7.
The spouse of the woman in Chicago also contracted the virus.
A charter plane landing at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, California, with passengers evacuated from Wuhan. Matt Hartman/AFP/Getty Images
The woman's spouse had not traveled to China. His case was the first instance in which the coronavirus spread from person to person in the US.
The very first US case was confirmed on January 21: a man in his 30s in Snohomish County, Washington.
A traveler at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on January 23. Reuters
Twenty US airports are screening passengers for the virus. Flights in and out of Wuhan have been canceled.
But the man who contracted the virus landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport before those protocols were instated. He did not exhibit any symptoms while traveling. Health officials said they were able to detect this case early, and the man was put under strict isolation.
Chris Spitters, a health officer for the Snohomish Health District, said on January 21 that the man was "hospitalized out of an abundance of precaution and for short-term monitoring, not because there was severe illness."
A spokesman at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett told The Daily Herald on January 24 that the man was in good health.
The US has barred foreign nationals who have been in China within the past 14 days from entering the country.
China Southern Airlines flight crew members wearing masks at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. Patrick Ngugi/AP
US citizens who have been in China's Hubei province within the prior 14 days can be quarantined for up to two weeks.
COVID-19 is marked by symptoms like fever, coughing, and difficulty breathing.
A passenger at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Reuters
The coronavirus family is a large group of viruses that typically affect the respiratory tract. Coronaviruses can lead to illnesses such as the common cold, pneumonia, and SARS. A recent study from the Chinese Center for Disease Control found that around 80% of coronavirus cases in China have been mild.
The CDC recommends that all travelers frequently wash their hands with soap and water and scrub for at least 20 seconds. They should refrain from touching their eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
Sarah Al-Arshani and Morgan McFall-Johnsen contributed reporting for this story.
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