Mysterious deaths of infants and others raise questions about how early coronavirus hit California [View all]

[intrepidity]

This article is from yesterday, but I just saw it today. It's hard to pick only 3 paragraphs to show. Best to go read the whole article at link. If it's behind a paywall, try Googling the title and see if that works.

This issue is one that many of us have been thinking about. I had become convinced, based on the genomics forensics done by the Seattle group, that the official timeline was more or less correct. Then those early cases out of San Jose emerged. Nagging doubts linger.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-21/babies-children-december-deaths-join-the-wait-for-covid-19-testing

Preserved samples of DeLap’s lungs are among tissue from more than 40 California deaths waiting for a decision by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on whether to test for COVID-19. Orange County has nine of the cases, as does Los Angeles County. Kern County has identified two respiratory deaths that might suggest COVID-19, both of young women, one of whom died Dec. 21.

(snip)

The Orange County coroner ruled DeLap’s death the result of severe acute lobar pneumonia, one lung so congested it had doubled in weight. But the coroner did not identify the organism infecting DeLap. The thought that it might have been the coronavirus haunted Cortez as she heard story after story of similar deaths. DeLap was an organ donor, so four weeks ago Cortez called the organization that received his tissue to ask if they were going to test it for COVID-19.

Unknown to Cortez, the Orange County coroner harbored similar questions. DeLap’s death is among nine cases from late December to March that the county has asked the California Department of Public Health to consider. The deceased range in age from 33 to 61 and include an elderly homeless man found in his RV and a young surfer who collapsed. Initial autopsies attributed their deaths to congested lungs, pneumonia or blood clots.