Do you remember this Covid news footage?

[Sitonyourdressmavis]

Chatting to SIL last night and we were remembering news footage we watched before the Christmas of Covid when the news was coming out of China about this virus. We clearly remember watching as a family news footage (would have been on BBC normal news not online) from China of people collapsing and fitting in the streets then being zipped up on stretchers and body bags and loaded into a black and yellow van by hazmat suited doctors/army. We all clearly remember this , it was not a film. What was this footage? Covid didn't present like that at all? We remember being really scared. SiL is a nurse and we remember her saying "what the hell is this thing"
Anyone else remember this footage?

I remember seeing it. Think it might have been January. I also remember how it made headline news when a famous actor caught it in Australia! Within a few weeks it was everywhere and it was not headline anymore. I definitely remember the people being loaded into vans, maybe ambulances in China

Yes I definitely think there is a case of confirmation bias here. Every year we hear of flu surges in various parts of the world. (Mumsnet yearly threads can account for that). 2019 is only significant because of what occurred later.

I remember this! Really clearly. It was on the television on the news. Bodies were being dragged around outside the hospital. I remember exactly where I was stood watching it (again with family!) it's making me feel crazy reading the comments of people who have no recollection.

When did you see this?

I find it so interesting that so many people can be so sure of something that there is no proof of.

I saw it too but I think it was after Christmas

The first we heard about Covid was when someone from our town was stuck on a boat with it, then we started hearing about it more and more till it all kicked off. I saw the pictures you are describing but just thought it was another random thing that happened in china, didn’t think much of it.

Are you looking at Christmas 2020 diary not 2019?

Did you write where in China?

No

No

I'm amazed how many people don't remember hearing about the virus at Christmas (2019). I remember saying to family that I thought this was going to be serious. I'm 100% sure as I only see those family members at Christmas. The authorities wouldn't have known what the virus was at that point though, just that it was out there.

Where would people have heard about it? It wasn't being reported widely before Christmas?

I’m amazed that you, and so many others, believe that you heard about it before the WHO who were notified on 31st December, 2019. Especially when no one can link to a report before January.

It was SARS COV 19 in 2019. Named COVID 19 in 2020.
the clue is in the number!

Once again the very last day of 2019.

I think you must be misremembering, you're not alone with this as this thread shows. This timeline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_in_2019#:~:text=This%20article%20documents%20the%20chronology,19%20outbreak%20in%20mainland%20 China. shows that the first few cases were only hospitalised in Wuhan in mid-December. The first samples looking for a new virus were only taken 24 December, which suggests that medics in the local area were only just starting to be concerned around this point.

Maria Van Kerkhove from the WHO says she was first contacted about it around Christmas time 2019.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/07/08/a-disease-detective-is-thrust-onto-the-front-lines-of-whos-covid-19-response/#:~:text=In%202015%20she%20was%20hired,when%20she%20was%20at%20home.

With no evidence in the form of dated news reports etc I just find it really hard to believe that it was a general topic for discussion at Christmas 2019. Or that schools were considering cancelling school trips in mid December.

With no evidence in the form of dated news reports etc I just find it really hard to believe that it was a general topic for discussion at Christmas 2019. Or that schools were considering cancelling school trips in mid December.

Well said. If people recall relatives being ill, or conversations about being unwell around Christmas 2019, it was probably a general winter illness, such as Flu. However, with hindsight and knowing what was to come in 2020, they're misremembering timelines. Which explains why so many are certain that they knew about Covid weeks, and in some cases months, before WHO were even concerned.

This is a really interesting article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2ykZkjN1PytNV0XYpbgL7dS/understanding-false-memories-of-crime

The idea that we can't rely on our memories is terrifying - to me anyway. But I do believe it happens a lot.

The school DEFINITELY sent a letter to say they would go ahead. They never considered cancelling

The school may have sent a letter, but they DEFINITELY weren't talking about Covid.

Yes but it had been an issue for the Chinese in the later part of 2019.
the world doesn’t revolve around BBC news. I knew about it in earlier December , like the OP

December 12th 2019 according to the cdc.gov Article in front of me.

China definitely reported it to the WHO on 31st December and it all kicked off from there.

as I said the official name is Covid-19 so there is absolutely no doubt it started in 2019

there was also chatter about the situation in China for 2-3 weeks beforehand when the cases were starting and that something was going on - social media rumours etc it was clear something fairly serious was happening

Early in that January a dd went with her bloke to S Africa for the cricket (he was with the Barmy Army). As she said later, there was someone on the plane coughing non stop, and she spent much of that 10 days or fortnight, in bed in the hotel.

It took her a long time to recover properly from that, so we realised only quite a while later that it must have been Covid.

Likewise, at around the same time, a BiL who had cancer anyway, had a knee replacement op, and became ill afterwards and took ages to recover. It was only rather later that anyone realised why - his oncologist said he’d almost certainly had Covid, only at the time it still hadn’t been identified.

Are you able to post the link to the article, sounds interesting