HealthDay Reports: Coronavirus Was Already Spreading in US in January — Study
New evidence suggests that COVID-19 in the United States started circulating in the latter half of January and the beginning of February — weeks earlier than the first documented COVID-19 case in the country.
Coronavirus Was Already Spreading in U.S. in January: Study
SATURDAY, May 30, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- More evidence has surfaced that the COVID-19 coronavirus was circulating in the United States as much as a month prior to the first confirmed local case in February, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday.
Genetic analysis of early cases suggests a single line of coronavirus imported from China began circulating in the United States between Jan. 18 and Feb. 9, followed by several importations from Europe, according to research from the CDC's COVID-19 Response Team.
That means the new coronavirus entered the United States weeks before the first documented case of COVID-19 infection from unknown origins -- a California resident who fell ill on Feb. 13 and was confirmed on Feb. 26, the researchers reported.