An American man in his 50s has died from Covid-19 on Saturday (Feb. 29), The New York Times (NYT) reports.

This is the first Covid-19 death in the U.S.

No recent travel history, no contact with infected patients

According to Reuters, the man was chronically ill prior to getting infected.

He died at EvergreenHealth Hospital in Kirkland, Washington.

Jeffrey Duchin, head of the Washington health department’s communicable disease unit, said that it is unknown how the man contracted the virus.

Director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Robert Redfield, added that he had neither travelled recently nor had any contact with infected Covid-19 patients.

President Donald Trump referred to the victim as a "wonderful woman" in her 50s during a White House news conference on Feb. 29, NYT reveals.

However, CDC clarified that its director had misstated the patient’s gender at the president’s news conference.

Cases of unknown origin in the U.S.

Cases of unknown origin could be a warning sign that Covid-19 is spreading in the U.S.

Other cases similar cases in the U.S. include:

• A high school student from north of Seattle
• An employee of a school near Portland, Oregon
• A woman in Santa Clara County, California
• A man from southeastern England

Washington State health officials had also announced two confirmed cases of people linked to a nursing facility, Life Care Center of Kirkland.

A healthcare worker and a resident at the facility had both tested positive.

In addition, more than 50 people in the facility had begun showing symptoms of the virus.

There are a total of 288 staff and residents at the facility.

This could possibly mean that there is an outbreak among a vulnerable population in the state.

However, Duchin said via Reuters:

“At this point we do not have widespread community-wide transmission locally. We have transmission that’s associated with an outbreak at this long-term care facility."

Washington declared state of emergency

A Feb. 29 report by NYT revealed that Washington's Governor Jay Inslee has declared a state of emergency.

The emergency declaration allows the use of the Washington National Guard (one of the elements of the State of Washington's Military Department) if necessary.

Washington authorities were also considering canceling sporting events, shutting down schools and taking other necessary measures to slow the spread of Covid-19.

The governor said, "If — and this is a big if — there is a social distancing strategy that becomes necessary, the emergency declaration would give us some legal authority."

U.S. officials announced that they were closing two schools in Oregon and Washington for several days for deep cleaning after it was discovered that the two schools had ties to cases.

Top image via Getty Images.