Study suggests virus was spreading in US in December 2019
A study this week suggests the coronavirus was spreading in the United States in December 2019, weeks earlier than previously believed.
The research is based on antibodies discovered in blood donations drawn in late December and early January. According to the study, coronavirus antibodies were detected in 39 samples from California, Oregon, and Washington on December 13-16. The antibodies were also found in 67 people in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan and Rhode Island, in early January 2020.
The United States’ first confirmed cases were in January.
The study is published in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal.
