A new study shows COVID-19 may have been in the U.S. before health officials originally thought.
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sampled more than 7,000 blood donations from nine states between December 2019 and mid-January of 2020.
106 of those samples tested positive for antibodies, which appear in your blood after you have contracted COVID-19. We spoke to one doctor who says the sample number is small, but it’s possible the virus was here in the U.S. but on a much smaller scale.
“For the virus to take off like it did, you need that exponential spread. But the first cases were very sporadic and once the virus starts gaining more and more host then it’s more easily spread,” said Dr. Joshua Ranum.
Dr. Ranum says even if you think you may have had the virus before, you should still practice social distancing and wear proper protective gear. He says there are also studies showing people can be re-infected with the virus.
