尸检显示，美国2月初已出现新冠死亡病例！官员：这可能只是“冰山一角”
美国北加州圣克拉拉县（Santa Clara）官员21日宣布，新的尸检结果显示，当地两名居民在2月初和中旬死于新冠病毒，说明美国首例新冠肺炎死亡病例，比早前知道的要早23天。
New autopsy results show two Californians died of novel coronavirus in early and mid-February -- up to three weeks before the previously known first US death from the virus.
报道指出，这一新信息可能会将新冠病毒在美国传播的时间线提前数周。
The new information may shift the timeline of the virus’s spread through the country weeks earlier than previously believed.
此前，美国疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）于2月29日报告美国本土首例新冠肺炎，死者是华盛顿州一名五十多岁的男子。
The United States' previously understood first coronavirus death happened on February 29 in Kirkland, Washington.
▌卫生官员：这可能只是“冰山一角”
圣克拉拉卫生部门主管萨拉·科迪（Sara Cody）称，这两名新冠肺炎患者分别于2月6日和2月17日死于家中。
Northern California's Santa Clara County announced the autopsy results Tuesday. The two were a 57-year-old woman who died in her home in the county February 6, and a 69-year-old man who died at home in the same county on February 17, officials said.
此外，还有一名3月6日去世的居民被确认死于新冠肺炎。
The three earlier Santa Clara County deaths were not associated with travel to highly infected areas. They are presumed to have contracted the virus in the community, said Dr. Sara Cody, the county’s chief medical officer.
萨拉·科迪称：
"Each one of those deaths is probably the tip of an iceberg of unknown size."
这三个死亡病例中的每一个，都可能只是庞大未知的冰山的一角。
▌专家：有必要回溯1月和12月的美国病例
哈佛全球健康研究所主任阿希什·贾哈博士（Dr. Ashish K. Jha）接受CNN采访时表示，这一发现非常重要（the finding was significant）。
"Somebody who died on February 6, they probably contracted that virus early to mid-January," Jha said Wednesday. "It takes at least two to three weeks from the time you contract the virus and you die from it."
贾哈博士22日称，“2月6日死亡的患者，有可能早在1月中旬就感染上了病毒。从感染病毒到死亡，期间需要2到3周时间。”
If they did not contract coronavirus through travel abroad, "that means there was community spread happening in California as early as mid-January, if not earlier than that," Jha said.
如果他们不是因为到过国外而感染病毒，“那就说明加州早在1月中旬，甚至更早，就开始出现社区传播了。”
贾哈博士认为，美国有必要回溯1月甚至12月的病例，搞清楚该国到底最早什么时候出现新冠病毒的。
"We really need to now go back, look at a lot more cases from January -- even December -- and try to sort out when did we first really encounter this virus in the United States," Jha said.
加州州长纽森（Gavin Newsom）
据报道，加州州长纽森（Gavin Newsom）22日称，已下令加州各地卫生部门和验尸官追查从去年12月以来的所有尸检报告，调查其中是否存在新冠肺炎的死亡案例。
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he’s requested that coroners review cases across the state as far back as December.
coroner /ˈkɒrənə(r)/ ：验尸官
纽森称，“查明新冠何时在加州开始传播，对于我们了解疫情非常重要，所有这些信息都要更为透明。”
During a press conference, Newsom revealed that the order is designed to “dig even deeper” into other deaths that could have been missed, with the goal of helping to create an “understanding of when this pandemic really started to impact Californians directly.”
纽森在新闻发布会上说，下达这一命令是为了“更深地挖掘”那些可能被忽略的死亡病例，目的是“弄明白这场大流行病是从什么时候开始直接影响加州人民的。”
编辑：左卓
来源：CNN 纽约时报
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