We’ve come to rely on Brit Hume finding some of the most interesting threads regarding the coronavirus, and today’s edition is no different: The entire timeline for COVID-19 in the U.S. has changed:

Officials in Santa Clara County, CA have determined that three people died from the novel coronavirus on February 9, 2020, which is weeks earlier than first thought:

Wow. Santa Clara County announces that autopsies find three people died from #COVID19 before March 9, originally thought to be first county death One of those people died Feb. 6 long before — Matthias Gafni (@mgafni) April 22, 2020

Before this revelation, the first U.S. death was thought to have occurred on February 29:

The first US death was previously reported in Washington in Feb. 29. This news means #coronavirus was in the Bay Area well before anyone knew it — Matthias Gafni (@mgafni) April 22, 2020

Santa Clara County blamed a “lack of tests and strict testing parameters” for those deaths getting missed:

And Santa Clara County public health officials say those early #COVID19 deaths slipped through the cracks due to lack of tests & strict testing parameters pic.twitter.com/sC9nLrLAdA — Matthias Gafni (@mgafni) April 22, 2020

So, how many other deaths are we missing?

Samples of those early cases were sent to the CDC and results came back today that they were indeed the first US cases (that we know of) And it again raises the question of whether or not there are many more at-home #COVID19 deaths not part of the death toll tabulation — Matthias Gafni (@mgafni) April 22, 2020

“Blows up what had previously been reported”:

Article posted on these stunning autopsy results. Blows up what had previously been reported as first US #COVID19 deathhttps://t.co/JkJOJO4FSo @erinallday @matthewkawahara @sfchronicle — Matthias Gafni (@mgafni) April 22, 2020

This means that they were infected in early January, which raises the question of just how much earlier than that it had already been spreading inside the U.S. (China didn’t tell the WHO of the “unknown illness” until 12/31 with the first case suspected on 12/10):

As @erinallday reports, typically takes a month for someone to die from #COVID19 after infection; suggesting it’s likely person who died Feb. 6 was infected in early January. Again, blowing up everything we thought we knew about #coronavirus entry into UShttps://t.co/JkJOJO4FSo pic.twitter.com/bpUUSqUFgO — Matthias Gafni (@mgafni) April 22, 2020

Full statement here:

Here is the full statement from Santa Clara County public health officialshttps://t.co/JkJOJO4FSo pic.twitter.com/zp9HzUuaiZ — Matthias Gafni (@mgafni) April 22, 2020

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