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there were cases in December 2019 – El Financiero

The SARS-coV-2 virus, which causes the disease of the COVID-19, was present in USA since December 2019, that is, weeks before the first case recognized in that country, suggests a study.

The first case of COVID recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC for its acronym in English) was registered on January 21, 2020.

However, a study conducted by the National Institutes of Health, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, found evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections in five states earlier than was initially reported.


Through the All of Us research program, more than 24 thousand blood samples that were contributed by participants from 50 US states between January 2 and March 18, 2020.

The researchers looked in the participants’ samples for a type of antibody called IgG.

These antibodies do not appear until about two weeks after a person has been infected, indicating that participants with these antibodies were exposed to the virus for at least several weeks before the sample was taken.

Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were detected in nine samples. The first positive samples came from participants in Illinois and Massachusetts on January 7 and 8, 2020, respectively, suggesting that the virus was present in those states at the end of December.


These findings add to the CDC study that suggested the virus was present in the United States as early as December 2019.

“This study allows us to discover more information about the beginning of the United States epidemic and highlights the real value of longitudinal research in understanding the dynamics of emerging diseases like COVID-19,” said Josh Denny, author of the study.

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