WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: 1st COVID Death Happened Earlier Than First Believed

SEATTLE (AP) – The Washington state Department of Health has confirmed at least four other Washingtonians died from COVID complications before or on Feb. 28, 2020 – the date the first known death was announced.

The Seattle Times reports in a recent review of the state’s earliest COVID-19 deaths, three people who died before the initial announcement were from long-term care facility Life Care Center of Kirkland, the site of the first known U.S. coronavirus outbreak.

State health officials now believe the first person to die in the state was actually a Snohomish County woman in her 30s.