New Data Shows First U.S. Coronavirus Death Earlier Than Thought; U.S. Officials Prepare for ‘Two Viruses’ Next Fall

By Axios. Santa Clara County Public Health in California announced Tuesday that autopsy results found a patient who died on Feb. 6 had the novel coronavirus.

Why it matters: The first known death from COVID-19 in the U.S. was declared on Feb. 29 to be a patient in Washington state. A second person who died in Santa Clara County on Feb. 17 was also found to have the virus.

Santa Clara County executive Jeff Smith said the origins of the cases, and another on March 6, were “believed to be within the community,” suggesting transmission in the area occurred much earlier than previously thought, according to the Mercury News.

(Read more from “New Data Shows First U.S. Coronavirus Death Earlier Than Thought” HERE)

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U.S. Officials Prepare for ‘Two Viruses’ Next Fall: Coronavirus and the Flu

By CNBC. U.S. officials are preparing to battle two bad viruses circulating at the same time as the coronavirus outbreak runs into flu season next fall and winter.

The Covid-19 outbreak in the U.S. hit just as the flu season was ending this year, Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a White House press briefing Wednesday. But they won’t have that benefit of using the country’s flu surveillance system to track the Covid-19 pandemic when the next flu season hits, he said.

“Next fall and winter, we’re going to have two viruses circulating and we’re going to have to distinguish between which is flu and which is the coronavirus,” Redfield said.

But Redfield noted that he didn’t say the coronavirus itself would be “worse” in the winter.

Earlier in the press conference, President Donald Trump said Redfield was “totally misquoted” when he previously said challenges from the coronavirus could be “more difficult” in the winter. (Read more from “U.S. Officials Prepare for ‘Two Viruses’ Next Fall: Coronavirus and the Flu” HERE)

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