There are now 10 confirmed cases of illnesses from the new coronavirus in King County, Washington. It is also the second death from the disease in the U.S..

A man in his 70s died at evergreenhealth medical center in Kirkland. Both men had underlying health problems. The three other new cases are two women and one in her 80s.

A total of six people who have connections to life care have been formally diagnosed with covid-19, the disease caused by the new virus. Earlier today, health officials said that two more people, men in their 60s, had also been hospitalized for illness from the novel coronavirus.

Genetic sequencing suggests the virus may have been circulating for six weeks. Two samples of the virus were compared, and the sequence was nearly identical.

Bedford says his work is preliminary, and it’s possible there are other theories besides community spread. However, he believes an alternative explanation is unlikely, because of an unusual variant on one of the genes.

Team at @ seattleflustudy sequenced # covid19 community case from snohomish County, WA. They have posted the sequence publicly to @ /t.co/tbbvymagpy.

Until last week, people with symptoms of covid-19 were n’t tested for the virus unless they’d traveled to an area where the virus was circulating or had contact with a confirmed case. The testing criteria were expanded after a public backlash – and cases with unknown causes were found.