Sixth COVID Death King Co Washington

[niman]

An earlier death in Washington State is tied to the virus.

A person who died last week in a Seattle hospital had the coronavirus, tests have shown, marking the earliest known fatality from the infection in the United States, and raising the death toll in the country to seven.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/world/coronavirus-news.html

[niman]

The person was brought to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center on Feb. 24 and died two days later, on Wednesday, before a crisis in the state began unfolding over the weekend.

Susan Gregg, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said on Tuesday that test samples from the person, who was a resident of the same nursing home that has had a number of coronavirus cases and deaths, have tested positive for the virus.

“In coordination with Public Health, we have determined that some staff may have been exposed while working in an intensive care unit where the patient had been treated,” Ms. Gregg said.

The confirmation of another death adds to an escalating emergency in a region that has rapidly emerged as a focal point for the virus in the United States. All of the U.S. deaths so far have been in the Seattle area.

The other deaths, all announced over the last few days, included residents of a nursing care facility in Kirkland, a Seattle suburb. Four other people who have tested positive for the virus in the area were in critical condition, officials said.

Officials in Washington State were rushing to take steps to contain the spread. Health officials were asking the State Legislature for an additional $100 million in funding to help respond to the virus. Some leaders were weighing more widespread closings of events, and around Seattle, immediate steps were being taken.

In King County, officials were in the process of purchasing a motel in the region that could house people needing isolation. They were also working to repurpose modular homes that had been originally meant to be used by homeless people.