As health officials across the country try to slow the coronavirus pandemic, a growing body of evidence and research suggests the virus may have been silently spreading in different parts of the country far earlier than initially believed and officially reported. Preliminary results from antibody testing in New York and Florida show that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people, may have already contracted the virus. Similar, and more controversial , surveys in California suggest wider spread than previously acknowledged. And in the state's Bay Area, health officials have now identified two coronavirus-related deaths that occurred in early February, meaning the first known death from the coronavirus in the U.S. occurred weeks earlier than previously believed. The earlier deaths "are like iceberg tips," said Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County's health director, during the announcement. They are indicators, she said, "that we had community transmission, probably to a significant
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