Research finds that United States may have had coronavirus in mid-December last year Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested blood donation samples in the United States and found that in mid-December last year, some Americans had antibodies against the novel coronavirus.
The latest findings are published in the electronic version of the semi-monthly journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, which was published on November 30.
Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote in the report that the latest findings indicate that “the number of cases of COVID-19 in the United States may have appeared in December 2019, earlier than previous findings”.
CDC researchers tested 7,389 blood donation samples collected by the American Red Cross from December 13 last year to January 17 this year, from nine states in the United States.
It was found that 106 blood samples contained antibodies to the novel coronavirus. Thirty-nine of the samples were collected from December 13 to December 16 last year from California, Oregon and Washington.
Researchers believe that this finding indicates sporadic cases of COVID-19 infection on the West Coast of the United States in mid-December last year.
Another 67 blood donation samples were collected from Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin and other places from December 30 last year to January 17 this year. According to CDC researchers, the above dates predate the first case reported in the United States on January 19.
