1/ Okay, this is a big deal. Given the time lag from infection to symptoms to death, it implies that #SARSCoV2 was present in California by mid-January at the latest - but it is very unlikely that the first person to develop #COVID in the US died from it. https://www.axios.com/first-us-coronavirus-death-earlier-autopsy-dbc72f86-30ed-47e5-b5d8-6811643f9853.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=onhrs

2/ Of note, the first known arrival of #COVID in the US has been dated to Jan. 15 in Seattle, and until now the first known death also occurred in Seattle - on Feb. 29 - more than three weeks after this death, on Feb. 6.

3/ So this is yet more evidence #SARSCoV2 has been present for longer and spread wider in the US than previously understood (because the replication cycle is so short and the transmission rate so high, even two weeks could make a 5-15x difference in the number of infections).