The illness struck “out of the blue.”

That’s how Azar Ahrabi’s son, Amir, described what happened to his mother. Last month, the 68-year-old woman had been living a simple but satisfying life in Santa Clara County: running errands, cooking and caring for her own elderly mother and befriending people in the grocery store with her sweet smile.

But one week after going to the doctor with a cough and fever, Ahrabi’s illness made headlines and triggered public health alarm: She was the first person in Santa Clara County to contract the new coronavirus with no known source of infection. Eleven days later, on March 9, Ahrabi died in a hospital bed without her family by her side.

She became the first person in the Bay Area to succumb to COVID-19 at a time when people in the region were just beginning to grasp the seriousness of the situation: Soon it was declared a pandemic, prompting orders for people to stay 6 feet apart and shuttering schools, restaurants and parks.

“It really came as an extreme shock to everybody,” said Amir, the first in his family to learn of his mother’s death. “I said, ‘Oh yeah, we have so much time ahead of us.’... I still can’t wrap my head around how this could’ve happened.”

Amir, a 31-year-old tech worker, spoke on the condition that only his first name be used, and The Chronicle agreed not to fully identify him in accordance with its policy on the use of anonymous sources. The Chronicle sought Amir out after seeing an online fundraiser for Ahrabi. Amir said he is concerned about the stigma associated with having infected family members.

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