Wuhan Wet Market Worker Is Now the 1st Known Case of COVID-19, According to New Study

An accountant from Wuhan, China, who was widely thought to be first person with Covid-19 actually developed symptoms eight days later than initially reported, making a female seafood seller at the now infamous Huanan market the earliest known case. The confusion was caused by complications from dental work that made the 41-year-old man sick on Dec. 8. A fever and other symptoms caused by coronavirus started Dec. 16, after multiple workers at the Huanan market were already exhibiting signs of infection, including the seafood vendor whose symptoms began Dec. 11, according to a study Thursday in the journal Science. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The accountant lived 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the market and had no connection to it. He was probably infected through community transmission after the virus began spreading in Wuhan, said Michael Worobey, head of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona in Tucson and the author of the study. Worobey’s research suggests the Huanan market was the source of the initial outbreak and not just where the SARS-CoV-2 virus was amplified in a super-spreading event. Also: Cases that had no epidemiological link to the market (didn’t work there or visit) nonetheless are concentrated heavily around the market. This is a clear signature that community transmission started at or very near the market, and only later spread widely around Wuhan. pic.twitter.com/Ulp8B3FfW7 — Michael Worobey (@Mic...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized bloomberg wire China COVID-19 overnight Source Type: news