Didn't know til now that U.S. "Patient 1" (aka, the Snohomish Man) was put into isolation pod - like the Nebraska woman
FYI, Patient 1 hospitalized not because his symptoms or health condition compelled it, but for observation, after the specimen obtained in another setting tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
Patient 1's illness upon admission was NBD:
"On admission, the patient reported persistent dry cough and a 2-day history of nausea and vomiting; he reported that he had no shortness of breath or chest pain. Vital signs were within normal ranges. On physical examination, the patient was found to have dry mucous membranes. The remainder of the examination was generally unremarkable. After admission, the patient received supportive care, including 2 liters of normal saline and ondansetron for nausea." ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
Patient 1 developed pneumonia IN THE HOSPITAL.
He did not have pneumonia when he went to the outpatient healthcare provider, or upon admission.
First signs were on hospital day 3.
This description from another study (wherein Snohomish Man is named "Patient 6") encapsulates his illness and hospital stay.
Again, he did not have pneumonia before being hospitalized - and there was patient-centered reason for hospitalization static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1…
The man - who was 35 years old & healthy but had serendipitously returned from visiting family in Wuhan on Jan 15 - was sick with run-of-the-mill, nothingburger ILI.
Gets pneumonia in the hospital and is treated with antibiotics (which is typical) and Remdesvir (not typical).
Note that whatever he was testing positive for days earlier (at the clinic and after admission) not testing positive at high cycle thresholds after the pneumonia developed
Was Patient 1/The Snohomish Man intubated & placed on a ventilator?
No.
From the first report:
"radiographic findings coincided with a change in respiratory status starting on the evening of hospital day 5, when the patient’s oxygen saturation values as measured by pulse oximetry dropped to as low as 90% while he was breathing ambient air.
On day 6, the patient was started on supplemental oxygen, delivered by nasal cannula at 2 liters per minute.
Given the changing clinical presentation and concern about hospital-acquired pneumonia, treatment with vancomycin (a 1750-mg loading dose followed by 1 g administered intravenously every 8 hours) and cefepime (administered intravenously every 8 hours) was initiated."
Remdesivir came afterward, for who-knows-what reason. 🚩 #ethicsflag
Was he tested for other pathogens?
Yes. (Table 2 from Nature study below)
Prior to hospitalization, on Illness Day 4, RVP came back negative for the usual suspects. No ct values given.
Blood cultures takeN on Illness Days 7, 8, 9 were "negative",
If I have the timeline correct, these cultures were taken before & just as the patient was developing the pneumonia.
It doesn't appear the patient was tested for anything other than SARS-CoV-2 after Illness Day 9.
Seattle Times said he started feeling unwell "with pneumonia symptoms," several days after returning to Washington state."
The case reports challenge that statement.
Also, he was in Wuhan since November? Who was his employer? 🤔
According to a Frontline documentary, the man being admitted to Providence Hospital (which was the same system as the outpatient clinic the man had visited) was...fortuitous. 🧐
Tim O'Brien (journalist): "One of the reasons they were so ready: less than three weeks earlier, Diaz and his colleagues had conducted an elaborate simulation-- pandemic training."
Dr. George Diaz, who treated the Patient: "We were aware of what was going on in Wuhan at that point, but it was part of our routine structure already to prepare."
O'Brien: "You really had a go-to plan."
Diaz: "We had a game plan in place already. We had everyone involved."
including the local EMS, those people that bring the patients from point A to point B, public health officials, and other partners we have in the community to drill. So we had a variety of scenarios we went through." youtu.be/4DJtjyB1gvE?si…
Scott Lindquist from the Washington State DPH repeats the readiness theme:
"The reason Washington state found that first case is because we were ready for it. The ambulance service was ready, they knew the right personal protective equipment to wear.
It was one of those absolute coordination between the healthcare, local health, state health, and the CDC. It went perfectly. That's how we were able to find the first case in the country."
Was this a competition? Whoever got the first positive to the CDC *won*?
And the area of the country who did it first was Seattle, which has all kinds of connections to Asia, Australia, Bill Gates, and was home to the Seattle Flu Project?
Seriously?
youtu.be/4DJtjyB1gvE?si…
Correction: "NO patient-centered reason"
We are apparently supposed to believe that Remdesivir as a treatment just popped into Dr. George Diaz's brain ("thinking on his feet" ) 🙄 independent.co.uk/news/world/ame…
The turnaround time for the test was very fast.
Sent to CDC on Sunday, Jan 19th and reported positive the next day.
@FedEx was that you, the military, or a private plane?😉
Food for thought
Snohomish Man didn’t die, by the way
Would love to see an actual journalist track down and interview him.
Right ✅
If he hadn't gone to the Dr. - or said he was in Wuhan - he likely wouldn't have been been tested, hospitalized, etc.
Ordeal & use of Rem. was unnecessary & unethical IMO
🚩Virus blamed for hospital-acquired illness
🚩Rem credited w/recovery
No Pod or theatrics for Patient 1 in Germany
The timing was…uncanny
Truly bizarre.
Where's the NYT "Four Years Later" interview with Snohomish Man?
Surely the story of guy with *1st* positive test for novel coronavirus 2019 is a candidate for a reporter to track down?
Or at least for @TuckerCarlson to feature...
TMK, the only statement credited to Snohomish Man is this one, on February 3, 2020, coinciding with a hospital statement:
“I am at home and continuing to get better. I ask that the media please respect my privacy and my desire not to be in the public eye. I would like to thank the doctors, nurses, and entire team at Providence who cared for me. I appreciate all of the concern expressed by members of the public, and I look forward to returning to my normal life." cnn.com/asia/live-news…
-Normal life where?
-Who was his employer?
-What had he been doing in Wuhan besides visiting family (reportedly since Nov 2019) before landing at SEA-TAC in mid-Jan 2020, symptom-free?
-How did his specimen(s) get from Washington to Atlanta overnight? Whose/which plane?
Snohomish Man was treated by a robot.
"The first person [to test positive in the U.S.], a man in his 30s, was hospitalized Monday in Everett [WA} where he’s being treated by a robot with a stethoscope and microphone that allows him to speak remotely with the doctor."
"[Dr George] Diaz said he had sat outside a window of the patient’s 20ft x 20ft room to operate the robot, which was equipped with a camera, microphone and stethoscope. It is one of many ways the hospital has worked to reduce risk of the virus spreading."
Maybe the bot knows where Snohomish Man is?
theguardian.com/us-news/2020/j…
The hospital - Providence Med Center - had a special pathogens unit into which S-Man was placed...even tho CDC said "the risk to the American public is low."
Hospital had practiced for a scenario like this since 2015.
Good thing the first *covid* case was in the county! 🍀
A June 2021 WORLD Magazine story on the outpatient Doctor who saw Snohomish Man says Wuhan, China was the man's home.
Based on other sources, I take this to mean "homeland," but it's unclear. wng.org/articles/covid…
CORRECTION: Keith Erickson is a physician's assistant, not a doctor.
Snohomish Man came to the outpatient facility with a cough and fever four days after landing at SEA-TAC airport.
More nuggets from the WORLD article:
Erickson was unaware of the "outbreak" in Wuhan - which implies that the Patient told him about it (and perhaps directed him to check the CDC website, which Erickson did).
A "five-hour barrage of phone calls" included one with the head of epidemiology at the CDC. (Any idea who that was @HousatonicLive?)
The CDC "decided" this might be Patient Zero, Erickson collected samples, which were overnighted to Atlanta...and the rest is history.
#Staged
My ongoing research thread on Snohomish Man (U.S. COVID Patient Zero)
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