Antibody test results of 2 Snohomish County residents throw into question timeline of coronavirus

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37. Was coronavirus here in December? Health officer has doubts

EVERETT — The first COVID-19 cases in Snohomish County might have occurred in December, a month before the country’s first known infection was confirmed in Everett, antibody test results show.

Two county residents who tested positive for coronavirus antibodies — meaning they were previously infected with the virus — both told the Snohomish Health District that they experienced COVID-19 symptoms in December, predating the county’s and the country’s first documented case, in late January. But district Health Officer Dr. Chris Spitters cast doubt on that theory during a Friday briefing with reporters.

“The symptoms that those individuals reported overlap greatly with other respiratory-tract infections,” he said. “There was no testing of those infections that occurred at the time, so it’s possible, and frankly, I think more likely, that they had a non-COVID respiratory, viral illness, then subsequently had an asymptomatic COVID infection. We can’t say that with 100% certainty — I just think that’s the more likely scenario.”

As of Thursday, 35 county residents had tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies. The health district hasn’t completed interviews with all of them yet, Spitters said.

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/virus-may-have-been-in-snohomish-county-as-early-as-december/