The Kansas department of health confirmed the state’s first coronavirus-related fatality in a male patient in his 70s who was tested and confirmed to have COVID-19 after his death, KCTV reported. Governor Laura Kelly declared a state of emergency in Kansas, which has seen five COVID-19 cases.

The Kansas case brings the death toll in the United States to 41 people, as of Mar 12, 11:30pm ET. Seven states have now reported COVID-19 related deaths:

  • Washington State (31)
  • California (4)
  • Florida (2)
  • New Jersey (1)
  • South Dakota (1)
  • Georgia (1)
  • Kansas (1)

A total of at least 1,701 coronavirus cases now exist in the United States. Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia have reported COVID-19 cases, after Alaska and Maine confirmed their first infections on Mar 12.

Alaska’s case was confirmed Mar 12 in an adult male who traveled through Anchorage International Airport on a cargo flight, Anchorage Daily News reported. According to the state’s chief medical officer, the man was a “foreign national” and was tested, treated, and quarantined at an Anchorage hospital.

In Maine, a female patient who serves as a Navy reservist was diagnosed as the state’s first COVID-19 case. According to the Maine’s Governor Janet Mills, the Androscoggin County woman in her 50s recently returned from overseas duty in a country where coronavirus is widespread, Bangor Daily News reported. She is reportedly not hospitalized.

Alaska and Maine’s cases mean three states — Alabama, Idaho, and West Virginia — are the last remaining US states without documented infections.

Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia have documented COVID-19 infections, which have hit at least 1,701 cases in the US.

Photo credit: NIAID-RML. Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (round magenta objects) emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. SARS-CoV-2, also known as 2019-nCoV, is the virus that causes COVID-19. The virus shown was isolated from a patient in the US.