Coronavirus in the United States was back in November 2019: is this true

Several widespread Facebook posts claim that people in the United States may have been infected with coronavirus more than once in the fall of 2019, but then no one suspected that the disease was caused by some kind of new infection. Writes about this USA Today.

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“Were you sick in November or December and it lasted 10 to 14 days with a really bad cough that wouldn’t go away? If you can answer yes, then you may have had coronavirus. There were no tests and the flu test would still come back negative. Back then it was simply called a severe upper respiratory tract infection,” the posts read.

Many of the currently circulating posts include a Facebook user post named Donna Lee Collier.

Bonnie Powell from Waynesboro, Georgia, copied the status and received more than 230 reposts. She said that the post reflects her opinion, and not necessarily scientific evidence. But she explained that she had heard from friends about the disease at the end of last year.

“A very dangerous flu season reigned in our area, and many of my friends had a negative flu test,” she wrote in a post on Facebook.

Coronavirus probably originated in November

Researchers link the origin of the virus to the live animal market in Wuhan, China. The World Health Organization first received an outbreak report on December 31, but the virus arose in China more than a month ago. A study published in early March by experts from ETH Zurich indicates the appearance of the virus in the first half of November.

On the subject: How to properly process products so as not to become infected with coronavirus

Rumors about the origin of the new coronavirus spread throughout the world. Theories that the virus originated in a Chinese laboratory, or that it originated outside of China and was transferred to the US Army, are not supported by data, according to medical experts. It is believed that the virus is of animal origin: probably from bats.

On January 21, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CBC) announced the first case of a new coronavirus in the United States in a person who recently returned to Washington from Wuhan. Since then, the United States has surpassed China and Italy, becoming the most infected country in the world, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.

Symptoms of a new coronavirus infection include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Manifestations reportedly range from mild to severe symptoms and death.

Could the coronavirus be in the USA before January

Experts say it is likely that coronavirus came to the United States from China before the first case officially recorded in January, but to be sure, additional testing is necessary.

“We heard about some flu-like illnesses in December and January that were a little atypical,” says Dr. Louis Ostrosky, professor of infectious diseases at McGovern School of Medicine at UTHealth in Houston. “But we can solve this puzzle when we really start testing for antibodies, and not just detect the virus.”

Ostroski said that this would include a blood sample analysis for December and January to find out if the virus was already in the US then.

Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said that in his opinion, when the researchers conduct more tests, they are likely to find that the disease was in the US earlier than expected.

“I believe that when we look back, we will find that this disease was here earlier than we thought,” he said.

However, Benjamin said: “it is plausible, but unlikely,” that the coronavirus was in the US in November and December. According to him, if the disease had been in the USA at the end of last year, it would have been connected with trips from China, and probably would not have become widespread.

Dr. Josh Petrie, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, said it’s important to remember that many existing viruses can cause severe symptoms in the upper respiratory tract and these viruses circulated late last year. Among them was influenza B, the intensity of which increased around November and December, as well as RSV (human respiratory syncytial virus) and influenza A.

He suggested that there might have been travel cases, but agreed that they probably were not widespread.

“Every year, there is flu surveillance. Therefore, if we observed a large activity of the coronavirus at that time (even if we couldn’t check it), the surveillance would show certain signals, ”he explains.

If a person has been ill with COVID-19, will this protect him from reinfection? It is also still under investigation. Ostroski said that, in general terms, other coronaviruses do lead to immunity.

A New York Times article about antibody research currently underway described the answer to the immunity question as "a qualified yes, with some significant unknowns." Dr. Vineet D. Menachery, a virologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, said infected people may have immunity for one to two years, with the length of that period being difficult to predict.

Need more info.

At the moment, experts say that those who had a cough or other symptoms of an upper respiratory tract infection were most likely not infected with the coronavirus.

But it is also possible that some cases arrived in the US earlier than the first recorded case in January. Experts say additional tests and studies are needed to get an accurate picture.

Useful links:

• CDC: Information about known coronaviruses that humans can become infected with.
• CDC: New Coronavirus Information
• CDC: first U.S. 2019 coronavirus travel detected in the USA
• ETH Zurich: COVID-19 Origin Study
• Johns Hopkins University: Coronavirus distribution map

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