It MIGHT have been here before Feb/March

[Whattodowhattodooo]

Just seen this tweet.

**A French Doctor has claimed that the virus was in France in December, a month before the first confirmed case.

Dr Cohen tested old blood samples for patients with respiratory symptoms and found a positive result.

This is worth investigating - it could be significant. - Prof Karol Sikora

Whilst it's France and not UK, I think the possibility should be investigated over here too. I am 99% sure my Dad had it beginning of January.

Im certain it was here last year, my mum had pneumonia , was hospitalised twice and off work for 3 months, then 6 weeks later she had a relapsed, more steriods and antibiotics. Shes still not 100% today.

I had something very like it in November (i.e. horrific hacking, retching coughing which had me unable to breathe - for many weeks) following a painful bout of pleurisy in late October.

I don't know anyone who thinks CV arrived here late Feb/March, they all think it was circulating from December onwards.

If it was doing the rounds from November/December it seems odd that the excess deaths only went through the roof in March and not earlier, especially as the NHS always struggle in winter capacity wise. Either it mutated into a much more lethal strain or it wasn't prevalent until at least January

Or, young and healthy people with more travel, international business and social connections caught it earlier and it wasn't until it become widespread and completely endemic (permiating care homes and hospitals) that enough vulnerable people caught it and died for the death stats to be materially impacted.

There are french and other athletes who competed in the world military games in October 2019 who believe they had it. the games were held in China for the first time and the location was Wuhan.

I still can't get my head around that Fergus Walsh article, I nearly started a thread about it at the time. He's the BBC health correspondent for goodness sake yet seemed unwilling or unable to consider the possibility that his January pneumonia might have been due to Covid . He must have had an asymptotic case later on.

• Asymptomatic

This is interesting

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52935644

Fergus Walsh

He's changed his tune!

If France retested old samples from pneumonia patients and discovered that it was there is Dec why can’t that be done here? Does the NHS not keep samples?

@SophieB100
Just been reading that. Very interesting indeed. Maybe the idiots (myself included) who think we may be in the second wave already MIGHT be right? 🤷‍♀️

We should be testing old samples but the government wouldn’t initiative a directive to do that. Probably as it would show they were even more incompetent in not taking any action until end of March...

Hopefully more countries will be proactive. China has no incentive obviously. There are reports that some scientists believe it was circulating in Wuhan from September not December. Yes the big international sports competition in Wuhan..Many athletes falling ill in October...

It may well have hit the young first. We know 50% are asymptomatic, we think some people actually may have some immunity. One hypothesis is that it just spreads a bit more slowly than we thought. Especially if it is the young who were picking it up first. The business travellers, holiday makers, students returning to Uni, skiers etc.

I had a horrible bug end of December. Started on 16th - temp and chills for about a week, cough for three weeks...then went to GP as I was throwing up with the cough and still having chills/fever. He thought pneumonia. Steroids and antibiotics and eventually cleared up by the end of Feb. It was horrific and I’m normally fit and well. Our whole household except DS1 had it. Even the cats were ill - sneezing, coughing and wheezing!

I really think I had it in November but keep being told I couldn’t possibly. I hadn’t travelled anywhere.
I had a cough And cold in October that went away and then came back 2 weeks later (so I thought) but much much worse. I was coughing all the time - couldn’t talk at length without coughing throughout. Sleep was hard to achieve, I was breathless climbing one flight of stairs and every morning I was literally sick coughing up phlegm. I was overcome with tiredness every day. I went off my food and lost a stone without trying.
One day I had to go to London for work for 2 days. I arrived in London and was supposed to be going to a meeting but I just went straight to the hotel, checked in and went to bed. It was 2.30pm but the 2 hr train journey to London Had wiped me out.
I want to have an antibody test to see if I have had it - but I’m waiting until a more reliable one is available.
I really truly believe the first in country transmission of the disease was months earlier than Feb 2020.

France think they have found cases from November
www.nbcnews.com/news/world/new-evidence-race-find-france-s-covid-19-patient-zero-n1207871

Wow, November. Very interesting.
If it was in France in November then there is no way it wasn’t here until 31st Jan.

I note the WHO is encouraging other countries to look at cases from this time...

DM thinks she had it back in Feb. She had difficulty in breathing, lost her appetite due to losing smell and taste, and was diagnosed with a bad chest infection, which is unlike her.

@CrazyCatMamma
Funny you should say that, dh and myself were very ill early December, high temperature, no taste /smell , very bad cough, couldn't breathe . One night I thought my dh would have to call an ambulance during the night because I couldn't breathe. Had an emergency appointment at the out of hours next morning, was put on antibiotics and steroids for chest ( 1st time on steroids )
We basically just sat on the sofa for 2/3 weeks unable to do anything . I was also given another dose of antibiotics.
WHILST this was going on , our dcat became ill, sneezing and under the weather. She also had to go to the vets and have medication. I asked the get if we can pass flu ( as that's what I thought we had) to a cat, this was poo pooed. Maybe we did have covid Would love to know !

New case in the media today. British women who returned from skiing over the New Year on Jan 6th had all the symptoms. She’s had the antibody test and it’s positive.

Obviously she may have just had it asymptomatically later on but what is the most likely scenario? Especially as she was skiing in Austria who covered up an earlier break out in a ski resort (or the resort did not Austria).

I think I had it in the week before Christmas. Felt the worst I have ever felt.

I think France have found some X-rays from
November that are consistent with COVID-19.

If it was in France in November then it would definitely have been here in December.

I wonder if this can all be proved through the X-rays and antibody testing.

China will then in some way need to be held accountable for saying their first case was Dec 31st when this just can’t be true. How to hold them accountable though I don’t know.

If someone told me I had it in November I would believe them.I never get a cough.
On the Sunday I had a headache soo bad I thought it was my hrt.Monday dreadful sore throat and absolutely no energy.The I asked to leave work early as I felt so ill.
Wednesday dragged into work when the cough started and I felt like I was drowning to lie down.
The GP said could I go up to the surgery however I felt too ill.DH drive me for a late appointment.I was disoriented when the doc saw me.I got some large dose antibiotics and went to bed to sleep it off for a few days.I lost my sense of taste and felt sick.My temp was 38.8 for several days and I was sweating and shaking like anything.
My DS said I looked so I'll he thought I looked like death.On return to work my ears kept popping for ages.
Whatever it was was awful.I did fear about my breathing being asthmatic.

Fatigue, sore throat, hi fever (41C) diarrhea, turned blue, dry 24/7 cough (lasted for a month) then fainted 10 days later, went to GP, who said i had very low BP and SAT's were also very low, no sign of chest infection but i couldn't get enough oxygen! He couldn't understand what was wrong with me.
Never been so ill, always have a flu jab.

Took 6 weeks before i was back to normal, first symptoms occured 2nd January.

@Delatron Govt has dragged its feet on ordering the Roche antibody tests, so weeks after they said they'd be in place, they still are not.

I would imagine they don't want us to know that Cv was in the UK long before they have acknowledged?