‘We are doing all we can to stay healthy’: Inside the city where first US coronavirus victim died and more than 50 await test results

Residents are going about their normal routines – but admit to an undercurrent of anxiety as the deadly virus appears in their community

It seemed nobody had missed the news.

And even if somebody had failed to learn that the first US fatality from coronavirus had taken place in this city, they would know soon enough.

Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency to try to stop further deaths. Later, it would emerge that 50 residents of a care home located two miles from the hospital where the first victim had died were showing symptoms for the illness.

Outside the city of Kirkland’s Whole Foods Market, from where the Evergreen Health Hospital could be seen by anyone who cared to turn their head and look, people were going about their business. Yet, it was clear that, while nobody was screaming or shouting, many felt quiet concern.

“I do worry, because I take the bus to work,” said Akash Shrivastava, who works in IT and was shopping with his wife, Aditi.

His wife said that at the town’s Costco supermarket that morning, the queues had been long, as if people were stocking up. She said there was a sign saying the store was out of face masks. She said the couple were following the advice of experts, including regularly washing their hands.

“There is only so much you can do,” she said.

Michael Epstein, 48, a consultant, said he was following updates from the Centres for Disease Control (CDC), and other experts. He was not listening to anything Donald Trump had to say. The president has been criticised for seeking to play down the threat.

“For the family of the person who has died it’s terrible,” he said. “But when you look at who is most at risk, and the fatality rates, you have to try not to worry.”

Of the claims made by Mr Trump that the US had little to worry about, he said: “I don’t listen to anything he says.”

A 21-year-old teacher said it was important people followed all necessary steps to stay healthy.

“I’m a teacher so there is a bit of panic. But we’re trying to stay calm,” said the woman who asked to be identified by her first name, Roxanna. “But people die from the flu every year. So you have to be healthy and stay active.”

Washingtonians pride themselves on not making a fuss about things. Lots of people hike in the mountains in just shorts and T-shirts. Similarly, they insist the often relentless rain is nothing more than “mist”.

To a newly arrived outsider, it feels less like bravado, than people choosing to get on with things, and not obsessing about those details they cannot change.

The region attracts lots of computer engineers and coders, and that logical methodical approach appeared to be on display over the weekend in Kirkland, a neighbourhood 10 miles to the northeast of Seattle.

“There is no reason to panic,” said a 65-year-old woman who works for the city of Bellevue. “We are getting really good information.”

How long such calm persists remains to be seen.

The man who died at EvergreenHealth on Friday was in his 50s, had underlying health conditions and no history of travel or contact with a known covid-19 case, health officials said at a news conference.

And on Saturday night, it was reported that two of three confirmed coronavirus cases in the state had links to a longterm care facility in the city of Kirkland, and more than 50 other residents and staff of the facility could be symptomatic. These people will be tested, and experts expect the number of confirmed cases could rise.

One, a woman in her 40s, an employee at Life Care, is in a satisfactory condition at a hospital. The other is a woman in her 70s and a resident at Life Care who is in a serious condition in hospital. The Centres for Disease Control and local health officials sent an emergency response team to the Life Care facility on Sunday to try to control the situation.

In a briefing call to reporters, Amy Reynolds of the Washington state health department said: “We are dealing with an emergency evolving situation.”

Washington had the unwanted distinction of having the first confirmed case of coronavirus in the US, after a man who travelled to China and who lived in the city of Everett, 20 miles north of Seattle, tested positive. Now it has the first fatality.

Cheryl Crowley, 73, a retired paralegal, was among those at the Whole Foods Market trying to put on a brave face.

She said she had no intention of changing her plans. She has a flight to the east coast in two weeks and intends to take it.

“What else are you going to do,” she said. “You cannot be that scared. Otherwise you’d just stay at home and do nothing.”