American Covid cases discovered in December 2019, according to study

Tests revealed Covid-19 infections in the United States in December 2019, according to a study, providing additional evidence that the coronavirus was spreading around the world weeks before the first cases were reported in China.

The study published Monday identified 106 infections from 7,389 blood samples taken from donors in nine US states between December 13 and January 17. The samples, collected by the American Red Cross, were sent to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing. to detect if there were antibodies against the virus.

“The results of this report suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infections may have been present in the United States in December 2019, earlier than previously recognized,” the newspaper said.

Reports of a mysterious pneumonia spreading in Wuhan, China first emerged in late December 2019. After spreading rapidly throughout the city over the following weeks, the disease spread throughout worldwide, with the first US case emerging on Jan.19.

The revelations in the article by CDC researchers reinforce the growing understanding that the coronavirus was circulating silently around the world earlier than expected and could reignite debate over the origins of the pandemic.

This is not the first evidence showing that the virus could have existed or infected people outside of China before 2020. A A patient in France contracted the virus after being hospitalized with flu-like symptoms at the end of December, contradicting official statistics showing that Covid-19 has arrived in the country from people returning from Wuhan at the end of January.

The CDC study indicated that there were isolated infections in the western part of the United States in mid-December. Antibodies were also discovered in early January in other states before the virus was known to have been introduced into those places.

Scientists said the antibodies were unlikely to have developed to curb other coronaviruses, as 84 samples were found to have specific SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing activity.

They too Noted it was not possible to determine the extent of infections at national or state level based on the samples, or whether the cases were transmitted locally or related to travel.

– With the help of John Liu and Claire Che