One person in Santa Clara County died of COVID-19 more than a month earlier than officials initially thought the first death occurred, officials said Tuesday.
In a statement, Santa Clara County Public Health said the individual died on Feb. 6. Two others all died before what was thought to be the first death on March 9.
The other two deaths occurred on Feb. 17 and March 6. All three people died at home.
County officials performed autopsies on the two individuals who died in February and sent tissue samples from both cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Confirmation from the CDC came back Tuesday. Santa Clara County’s medical examiner confirmed the infection in the third person.
County officials said the three people died did at a time when testing for COVID-19 was restricted to people with a history of travel or who went to the doctor for specific symptoms.
The CDC was responsible for setting those guidelines, and at that time, was doing all the testing. Since then, tests have become more available in the county and the Bay Area.
County officials said they anticipate they will identify more deaths from COVID-19.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
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