Santa Clara County Officials Pause To Remember Grim COVID-19 Anniversary
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- It was a year ago Santa Clara County suffered the nation's first death traced to a growing COVID-19 outbreak.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo released a statement Saturday to mark the passing of San Josean Patricia Dowd and the unprecedented year that has followed.
"One year ago today, on February 6, 2020, our neighbor, San José resident Patricia Dowd, became the first casualty of COVID-19 on American soil," Liccardo said in his statement. "Since her passing, we have lost more than 1,500 friends, neighbors, and loved ones in Santa Clara County, and 460,000 Americans."
"As we continue to mourn our neighbors, friends, and loved ones taken from us too soon, we come together through our common suffering to summon uncommon strength."
Dowd was a 57-year-old senior manager for a Silicon Valley semiconductor firm when she became sick with flu-like symptoms in late January and passed away on Feb. 6th.
Months later, a tissue sample and testing helped confirm her death was caused by COVID-19 -- marking the first known COVID-19 death in the U.S.
Since the early days of the COVID pandemic, Santa Clara County has been the Bay Area epicenter of the outbreak.
On Saturday, Santa Clara County health officials reported that there have been 104,076 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among local residents since the outbreak began.
The county has also suffered 1,523 deaths from the virus.
