County of Santa Clara (California) Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody announced on Tuesday that their first known fatality from COVID-19 was on February 6, 2020.   In a press briefing on Wednesday morning, Dr. Cody said the autopsies on three deaths indicate COVID-19 was spreading within the San Francisco Bay Area far earlier than thought.

The Santa Clara County medical examiner had performed autopsies on three people who had died in February and early March and had flu-like symptoms.  At the time they were ill, there was no test for COVID-19.  The Santa Clara County medical examiner has a protocol to do viral studies on those who die from flu-like symptoms.  They sent autopsy tissues to the CDC for further analysis.  The confirmation came back Tuesday that the two individuals who died on February 6 and February 17 had COVID-19.

Dr. Sara Cody said the first victim on February 6 was a 57-year-old woman.  The February 17 victim was a 69-year-old man.    A third victim on March 6 was a 70-year-old man.  Dr. Cody said none of the people had a significant travel history.   The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had previously reported the first fatality due to coronavirus complications in the United States on February 28. The patient was a resident of Kirkland, Wash.

In January, the guidelines were to look for people with COVID-19 symptoms who had traveled.  Dr. Cody said these confirmed COVID-19 deaths are like the tips of an iceberg, indicating there had to be significant community transmission far earlier than thought, certainly in January. Santa Clara County also had a significant number of influenza cases, or those with flu-like symptoms but there was little COVID-19 testing available.

Dr. Cody said without a vaccine and without immunity within the population, she expects COVID-19 to be around for a very long time.