# Report - Coronavirus was spreading in US since January



## odyssey06 (23 Apr 2020)

*I wonder if Ireland is running any similar rechecks.*

Two people who died in California in early and mid February have been confirmed through autopsies as coronavirus cases – weeks before the first reported COVID-19 fatality in the United States. The deaths, on 6 February and 17 February, push back the timeline for the entry of the virus on US soil, experts said. Given what we know about how long it takes for the virus to kill people, *the disease began to spread in the US sometime between early and mid January.*..
Sara Cody, the public health officer of Santa Clara County where the new autopsies were performed, told The Washington Post it was not yet known how the two people were infected, with officials unaware of any history of overseas travel.  This further reinforces that the virus was already circulating in the community.









						Autopsies show coronavirus was spreading in the US from January
					

The earliest death attributed to the coronavirus was previously thought to be on 26 February.




					www.thejournal.ie


----------



## EmmDee (23 Apr 2020)

I know that some people in Washington reported symptoms very similar to Covid including loss of taste and bad flu leading to pneumonia like symptoms in December. And apparently noted by doctor that there were a lot of bad flu and pneumonia cases this flu season. That person got tested for antibodies and was positive.

Not conclusive at all - but there does seem to be some anecdotal evidence that it was around a lot earlier than first official cases


----------



## seamus m (29 Apr 2020)

Had a anecdotal message deleted about a friend being isolated in cork hospital in early Feb with virus .It's prob more believable now with virgin media reports on 4 cases in intensive care with covid before first offial case ,which is again typical of some Irish decision makers  with too much power and too little brainpower.


----------



## Leo (30 Apr 2020)

seamus m said:


> which is again typical of some Irish decision makers with too much power and too little brainpower.



What role did the decision makers play in the diagnoses of these cases?


----------



## seamus m (30 Apr 2020)

That is impossible to know but I would guess it was to try keep it all in-house .Trying to contain without damaging economy which turned out to be futile.I would think time was wasted in not preparing and not having the right people make decisions.Mr Holohan seemed to be very surprised to find out the way he did.


----------



## EmmDee (30 Apr 2020)

seamus m said:


> That is impossible to know but I would guess it was to try keep it all in-house .Trying to contain without damaging economy which turned out to be futile.I would think time was wasted in not preparing and not having the right people make decisions.Mr Holohan seemed to be very surprised to find out the way he did.



Why is everything a conspiracy? I know the cases in the US I referenced were viewed as a bad flu causing pneumonia - nobody was thinking that a remote virus in China was in the US (or Ireland). So clinicians will operate on the most likely scenario and flu was the most likely.

Or maybe you're right - a whole string of people stretching from the hospital porters, clinicians, hospital and HSE executives conspired with the government to keep it on the down low for economic reasons - and managed to keep it quiet.


----------



## Silvius (30 Apr 2020)

I'm confused by the fact that hundreds of new cases are being identified every day despite the fact that we've been on lockdown for a month. How is it spreading (outside of nursing homes)? The only conclusion I can draw is that the official figures are way behind the real number of cases and this thing has been spreading for quite a while. How long, I don't know.


----------



## Leo (30 Apr 2020)

seamus m said:


> That is impossible to know but I would guess it was to try keep it all in-house .Trying to contain without damaging economy which turned out to be futile.



It isn't impossible at all, politicians play no role in the diagnostic process. The have little to no role in the day to day running of the HSE let alone the hospitals themselves that have myriad layers of management with little accountability. To contain such a cover-up of this proportion for so long would be a feat of management the HSE sadly is nowhere near capable of. 

My sense is some of what we might now consider poor decisions were based on data available at the time. It's not that long ago that community transfer was thought to play a minor role based on studies on the data from China. We now know that COVID-19 is evolving, now in the hundreds of variants and we're seeing community transfer accounting for 63% of cases here.


----------

