美國2月初已出現新冠病毒感染死亡病例範例

Two people who died in California in early and mid-February were confirmed Tuesday as coronavirus cases. The first of those deaths came weeks before what was thought to be the first COVID-19 fatality in the United States. The earliest US death attributed to the new coronavirus was previously thought to have been on February 26 in Kirkland, Washington.

當地時間週二（4月21日），於2月初和2月中旬在加利福尼亞州去世的兩名美國人被確認爲新冠病毒感染死亡病例。其中，2月初的死亡病例比此前認爲的美國首例死亡病例還要早幾周。此前，美國首例新冠病毒感染死亡病例被認爲於2月26日發生在華盛頓州柯克蘭。

Autopsies on the two individuals who died at home on February 6 and February 17 showed they succumbed to COVID-19, the Santa Clara County coroner said, after receiving confirmation from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

在收到美國疾病控制和預防中心的確認後，美國加利福尼亞州聖克拉拉縣的驗屍官說，對2月6日和2月17日在家死亡的兩名美國人的屍體解剖顯示，他們因新冠病毒感染死亡。

Another person who passed away in Santa Clara County on March 6 also died of the disease caused by the coronavirus, the medical examiner-coroner said in a statement.

這名醫療驗屍官在一份聲明中說，3月6日在聖克拉拉縣去世的另一名死者也死於新冠病毒引發的疾病。

"These three individuals died at home during a time when very limited testing was available only through the CDC," the coroner said.

驗屍官說：“這三名患者死於家中，當時新冠病毒檢測只有通過美國疾病控制和預防中心才能進行，數量非常有限。”

"Testing criteria set by the CDC at the time restricted testing to only individuals with a known travel history and who sought medical care for specific symptoms."

“美國疾病控制和預防中心當時制定的檢測標準是，只對有已知旅行史和因特定症狀就醫的個人進行檢測。”

The coroner's office said it expected to identify more coronavirus-related fatalities in Santa Clara.

驗屍辦公室表示，預計聖克拉拉縣將發現更多與新冠病毒有關的死亡病例。

"As the medical examiner-coroner continues to carefully investigate deaths throughout the county, we anticipate additional deaths from COVID-19 will be identified."

“隨着醫療驗屍官繼續仔細調查整個縣的死亡情況，我們預計會發現更多與新冠病毒有關的死亡病例。”

Health experts say a shortage of test kits means the United States may be underestimating the extent of the virus outbreak.

衛生專家說，缺少檢測工具意味着美國可能低估了病毒暴發的規模。

A study this week indicated that the novel coronavirus was likely far more widespread than official figures suggest.

本週的一項研究表明，新冠病毒的傳播範圍很可能比美國官方數字顯示的要廣得多。

Blood samples taken from 3,300 volunteers in Santa Clara County showed the true number of COVID-19 cases was at least 50 times higher than the number of confirmed infections in the county, according to the study by Stanford researchers.

斯坦福大學開展的一項研究顯示，從聖克拉拉縣3300名志願者身上採集的血液樣本顯示，該縣新冠肺炎病例的實際數量至少比此前官方公佈的數量高出50倍。

Santa Clara was among the first areas in the US to tell residents to stay at home to contain the spread of the virus, ordering a shutdown from March 17.

聖克拉拉縣是美國首批要求居民居家隔離控制病毒傳播的地區之一，並下令從3月17日起實行封鎖。

The United States has recorded more than 800,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University, with over 45,000 deaths -- the most reported of any country.

據約翰斯·霍普金斯大學的統計，自新冠肺炎疫情開始以來，美國確診病例已達80多萬例，死亡病例超過4.5萬例，是報告死亡病例最多的國家。