Satellites Show That Coronavirus May Have Started Spreading In China In The Fall
There is so much contradicting information regarding COVID-19, and when the spread of the virus first began. Although many think that the virus first started circulating in December, there is now evidence showing that it may have been earlier.
Per ABC News, “Dramatic spikes in auto traffic around major hospitals in Wuhan last fall suggest the novel coronavirus may have been present and spreading through central China long before the outbreak was first reported to the world.”
To find this data, researchers analyzed satellite imagery. While doing this, they “observed a dramatic increase in hospital traffic outside five major Wuhan hospitals beginning late summer and early fall 2019.” There was also a large number of Chinese internet queries back then of people searching symptoms that are associated with the virus.
Satellite imagery showing visits to Wuhan hospitals as well as Chinese internet search inquiries about coronavirus-type symptoms suggest the virus may have arrived in Wuhan as early as October 2019, but Chinese authorities didn't let us know. https://t.co/tj17qz4xxn pic.twitter.com/CaoXwy0bxm
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) June 9, 2020
Dr. John Brownstein, the chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and director of the medical center’s Computational Epidemiology Lab, spoke out and said, “Something was happening in October” He also adds, “Clearly, there was some level of social disruption taking place well before what was previously identified as the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic.”