Doctor Who Treated America's First COVID Patient Reveals What It Was Like

A doctor who treated the first confirmed COVID-19 case in the U.S. has spoken of his experience one year after the event, describing how "fearful" his patient was of the then mysterious disease.

Dr. George Diaz, head of infectious diseases at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington, was part of the team that looked after the man in his 30s, who had returned to the state from Wuhan, China, on January 15, 2020.

Initially, the patient from Snohomish County, who has not been identified, displayed no symptoms, but he eventually became sick and sought medical attention at a local clinic. He was subsequently hospitalized at Providence after his condition worsened.

Medical staff took samples from the patient that were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On January 21, officials confirmed his infection as the first known case in the U.S. of what was then referred to simply as the "novel coronavirus" or 2019-nCoV.

At the time, very little was known about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the disease it causes, which by January 21 had only been reported in five countries.

"Patient one" told doctors he was worried he had contracted the virus, which lab tests later proved. His concern grew once he started to develop pneumonia symptoms.

"He became even more frightened about what was going to happen, as he'd seen reports in China where there were many deaths," Diaz said. "He was very fearful that things could go poorly for him as well."

"That is one of the hardest parts of taking care of COVID patients is the fear that they have that they are going to die."

Diaz praised the patient for acting quickly after he started feeling sick.

At the hospital, the patient was kept inside an isolation pod so he would not infect doctors and other hospital staff.

"He really lived in a fishbowl while he was here, in a highly isolated environment, and so that was emotionally difficult for him," Diaz said.

According to the doctor, the patient was among the first in the world to receive the antiviral medication remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19. Five days after receiving the drug, medical staff discharged the patient from hospital.

Diaz said the use of remdesivir to treat the patient paved the way for clinical trials and the drug's use against COVID-19, particularly in the early stages of the disease.

"Even now for patients that arrive to our hospital one year later, they would get remdesivir in the same circumstances that patient one got. So he was getting standard of care treatment a year ago," he said.

Doctors said that medical staff at the hospital were prepared to treat novel coronavirus cases despite the fact it had not yet been reported in the country.

"Like, an athlete, if you practice enough, then when it's game time you're ready to go," Diaz said.

From January 21 through February 23, 2020, public health officials detected 14 cases of the novel coronavirus in the U.S., which were all linked to travel from China, according to a CDC report published in June 2020.

The first non-travel–related U.S. case was confirmed on February 26 in a California resident who became sick on February 13. Two days later, officials confirmed a second non-travel–related case in the state of Washington.

It is not clear whether the patient treated by Diaz was the first link in the chain of community transmission in the Seattle region—an early COVID-19 hotspot in the U.S. pandemic.

The CDC report suggests that "community transmission had begun before detection of the first two non-travel–related U.S. cases, likely resulting from the importation of a single lineage of virus from China in late January or early February, followed by several importations from Europe."