"In a significant twist that could reshape our understanding of the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, death records now indicate the first COVID-related deaths in California and across the country occurred in January 2020, weeks earlier than originally thought and before officials knew the virus was circulating here.

A half dozen death certificates from that month in six different states — California, Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Oklahoma and Wisconsin — have been quietly amended to list COVID-19 as a contributing factor, suggesting the virus’s deadly path quickly reached far beyond coastal regions that were the country’s early known hotspots.

Up until now, the Feb. 6, 2020, death of San Jose’s Patricia Dowd had been considered the country’s first coronavirus fatality, although where and how she was infected remains unknown.
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This new data appears to be the result of months-long efforts by so-called certifiers — the coroners, medical examiners and doctors across the country tasked with explaining when and why people die — to take a closer look at deaths that occurred in the months before the outbreak.

The Bay Area News Group first reported in April that the CDC was investigating why multiple COVID-related fatalities before Dowd’s death began appearing earlier this year in state and federal records. At the time, most of those were explained away as incorrect dates and other data glitches.

But this past week, the federal agency told this news organization that it had worked with state officials to contact the certifiers in five cases — while waiting to hear back from a sixth — and confirmed that death certificates from January 2020 have now been intentionally revised to include COVID."

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/08/22/exclusive-first-u-s-covid-deaths-came-earlier-and-in-different-places-than-previously-thought/