After first coronavirus death in the US, first possible outbreak reported

Enlarge / WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 29: US President Donald Trump speaks as Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams listen during a news conference at the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House February 29, 2020 in Washington, DC. The Department of Health in Washington State has reported the first death in the US related to the coronavirus. (credit: Alex Wong | Getty Images)

Health officials in Washington state reported three grim new features of the coronavirus situation in the US Saturday. They reported the country's first death, the first case in a healthcare worker, and the first possible outbreak.

In a press briefing held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, health officer at Public Health of Seattle and King County, announced that there are three new presumptive cases of COVID-19 in the county, including the person who died. All of the cases appear to be from undetected spread of the new coronavirus in the community. The cases were identified because the state just recently gained the ability to do its own testing.

Two of the cases are linked to a long-term care facility called Life Care in Kirkland, Washington, east of Seattle. One of the cases is in a healthcare worker at the facility, a woman in her 40s who is said to be in "satisfactory" condition. She has no known travel outside of the US. The other is a resident of the facility, a woman in her 70s. She is in serious condition.

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