Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Study Adds To Theory That Covid Started Spreading In US By Christmas 2019
AP: More Evidence Suggests COVID-19 Was In US By Christmas 2019
A new analysis of blood samples from 24,000 Americans taken early last year is the latest and largest study to suggest that the new coronavirus popped up in the U.S. in December 2019 — weeks before cases were first recognized by health officials. The analysis is not definitive, and some experts remain skeptical, but federal health officials are increasingly accepting a timeline in which small numbers of COVID-19 infections may have occurred in the U.S. before the world ever became aware of a dangerous new virus erupting in China. (Stobbe, 6/15)
The Washington Post: NIH Study Suggests Coronavirus May Have Been In U.S. As Early As December 2019
A research study run by the National Institutes of Health has turned up evidence of possible coronavirus infections in the United States as early as December 2019, weeks before the first documented infection in this country. The new report, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, bolsters earlier studies indicating that the virus entered the country under the radar and may have been spreading in the first two months of 2020, well in advance of warnings to that effect from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Achenbach, 6/15)
The New York Times: Scientists Report Earliest Known Coronavirus Cases In Five US States
But the new study is flawed, some experts said: It did not adequately address the possibility that the antibodies were to coronaviruses that cause common colds, and the results could be a quirk of the tests used. In addition, the researchers also did not have travel information for any of the patients, which might have helped explain the test results. “This is an interesting paper because it raises the idea that everyone thinks is true, that there were infections that were going undiagnosed,” said Scott Hensley, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania. (Mandavilli, 6/15)
