First U.S. COVID deaths earlier — and in different places — than previously thought
The existence of January 2020 deaths would dramatically revise the timeline of COVID s arrival in the United States. China first announced a mysterious viral pneumonia in late December 2019, and reported the first death from the illness on Jan. 9, 2020. The U.S. originally recorded its first case in mid-January when a traveler tested positive after returning from Wuhan, China. The first deaths reported in the United States, in late February, were also tied to travel.
In its current death count, which reflects the six newly-discovered fatalities, the NCHS now lists the country s first COVID death during the week of Jan. 5-11 the first full week of 2020. The agency is in the final stages of preparing its 2020 annual mortality report, a review and analysis of all deaths in the United States last year.
Swartzberg thinks and the new death data suggests it s entirely possible that COVID was present in the United States as early as December or even November. The time from infection to death from COVID is typically around three weeks.
I would certainly guess the virus was introduced on multiple occasions before it was identified as a problem, Swartzberg said, noting that states like Alabama and Oklahoma don t generally see a lot of travel to and from China.