The coronavirus may have been circulating in the United States last December, well before the first COVID-19 case was diagnosed on January 19, a new analysis of donated blood suggests.
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Researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked for COVID-19 antibodies in archived samples of blood donations collected by the American Red Cross from December 13, 2019 to January 17 from non-identifiable donors in nine states.
The samples were from California, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.
Of the 7389 blood donors, 106 had antibodies specific to the new virus.
There were samples found with COVID-19 antibodies from all nine states, according to a report of the study published on Tuesday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
The findings suggest the virus may have been present in the country's western states as early as December 13 and in eastern states as early as December 30, according to a press statement from Susan Stramer, vice president of Scientific Affairs at the American Red Cross.
It is not possible from these findings to determine whether these potential early COVID-19 infections were due to community spread or were travel related, she said.
Australian Associated Press