Page 18 - 2021 White Paper
P. 18
1 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
illness. Based on the patient’s travel history and in 106 out of 7,389 blood donations. The CDC
symptoms, healthcare professionals suspected this analyzed the blood collected between Dec. 13 and
new coronavirus. A clinical specimen was collected Jan. 17. The presence of antibodies in a person's
and sent to CDC overnight, where laboratory blood means they were exposed to a virus, in
testing yesterday confirmed the diagnosis (CDC). this case the coronavirus, and that their body's
immune system triggered a defensive response.
After a California woman tested positive Researchers found coronavirus antibodies in 39
for coronavirus—the first case of “community samples from California, Oregon, and Washington
transmission” in the US, in which someone as early as Dec. 13 to Dec. 16. They also discovered
is infected in spite of no known link to travel antibodies in 67 samples from Connecticut, Iowa,
abroad—infectious disease experts expressed Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, and
concern that the disease was spreading Wisconsin in early January — before widespread
undetected in other parts of the country. outbreaks in those states. Despite the findings,
Test availability in the US was limited due to widespread community transmission in the US.
strict federal testing criteria (since loosened). was unlikely until late February, the authors said.
As a result, tracking the possible spread of "These findings also highlight the value of blood
coronavirus in the US was slow due to a lack of donations as a source for conducting SARS-CoV-2
reliable testing. A test produced by the Centers surveillance studies," they said (Diaz).
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) didn’t
work as expected, and the agency restricted its By the end of February, coronavirus cases were
use until February 26 to only a handful of state soaring globally. Southeast Asia’s foreign ministers
labs across the country. Without wider testing, met with officials from China and declared their
experts believed that it’s impossible to know the intention to “stay strong!” Yet their hastily called
true number of infected Americans. Containment meeting in secretive, socialist Laos suggested not
strategies—such as travel restrictions, border so much resiliency as the need to shore up mutual
closures, and quarantines helped curtail the support. Health experts were widely skeptical
spread of coronavirus, but such restrictions of the numbers reported by China’s neighbors,
become problematic as the geographic spread of and believed the deadly infection was spreading
the virus expanded (McGinley and Johnson). undetected throughout much of Southeast Asia.
With infection clusters increasingly sprouting
Scientists know now that the coronavirus was outside of China, many feared these pockets were
present in the US weeks earlier than scientists sustaining the outbreak and pushing the world
and public health officials previously thought, and toward a global pandemic. Strangely absent from
before cases in China were publicly identified. the list were Myanmar and Laos, two countries
Findings published in the journal Clinical Infectious that share borders with China, as well as Brunei,
Diseases suggest that the coronavirus, known East Timor, and Indonesia—of which the latter
officially as SARS-CoV-2, had infected people in had daily, direct flights to the virus epicenter,
the US even earlier. "SARS-CoV-2 infections may Wuhan. Every other country in the region — all
have been present in the US in December 2019, beneficiaries of Chinese aid, investment, and
earlier than previously recognized," the authors tourism—had reported cases (Barron).
said. This discovery added to evidence that the
virus was quietly spreading around the world Around the same time, more than 600
before health officials and the public were aware, Massachusetts residents who had recently
disrupting previous thinking of how the illness traveled to China quarantined themselves at home
first emerged and how it has since evolved. It also while being monitored for the novel coronavirus.
showed the virus's presence in US communities The quarantines were voluntary and last 14 days.
likely didn't start with the first identified case in For the most part, people in America began
January. Researchers came to this conclusion after to stay home. A CDC’s warning provided little
the CDC analyzed blood donations collected by the guidance on what actions people should take to
American Red Cross from residents in nine states. prepare, nor exactly what scenarios to prepare
They found evidence of coronavirus antibodies for. It coincided with the news that the Covid-19
18
illness. Based on the patient’s travel history and in 106 out of 7,389 blood donations. The CDC
symptoms, healthcare professionals suspected this analyzed the blood collected between Dec. 13 and
new coronavirus. A clinical specimen was collected Jan. 17. The presence of antibodies in a person's
and sent to CDC overnight, where laboratory blood means they were exposed to a virus, in
testing yesterday confirmed the diagnosis (CDC). this case the coronavirus, and that their body's
immune system triggered a defensive response.
After a California woman tested positive Researchers found coronavirus antibodies in 39
for coronavirus—the first case of “community samples from California, Oregon, and Washington
transmission” in the US, in which someone as early as Dec. 13 to Dec. 16. They also discovered
is infected in spite of no known link to travel antibodies in 67 samples from Connecticut, Iowa,
abroad—infectious disease experts expressed Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, and
concern that the disease was spreading Wisconsin in early January — before widespread
undetected in other parts of the country. outbreaks in those states. Despite the findings,
Test availability in the US was limited due to widespread community transmission in the US.
strict federal testing criteria (since loosened). was unlikely until late February, the authors said.
As a result, tracking the possible spread of "These findings also highlight the value of blood
coronavirus in the US was slow due to a lack of donations as a source for conducting SARS-CoV-2
reliable testing. A test produced by the Centers surveillance studies," they said (Diaz).
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) didn’t
work as expected, and the agency restricted its By the end of February, coronavirus cases were
use until February 26 to only a handful of state soaring globally. Southeast Asia’s foreign ministers
labs across the country. Without wider testing, met with officials from China and declared their
experts believed that it’s impossible to know the intention to “stay strong!” Yet their hastily called
true number of infected Americans. Containment meeting in secretive, socialist Laos suggested not
strategies—such as travel restrictions, border so much resiliency as the need to shore up mutual
closures, and quarantines helped curtail the support. Health experts were widely skeptical
spread of coronavirus, but such restrictions of the numbers reported by China’s neighbors,
become problematic as the geographic spread of and believed the deadly infection was spreading
the virus expanded (McGinley and Johnson). undetected throughout much of Southeast Asia.
With infection clusters increasingly sprouting
Scientists know now that the coronavirus was outside of China, many feared these pockets were
present in the US weeks earlier than scientists sustaining the outbreak and pushing the world
and public health officials previously thought, and toward a global pandemic. Strangely absent from
before cases in China were publicly identified. the list were Myanmar and Laos, two countries
Findings published in the journal Clinical Infectious that share borders with China, as well as Brunei,
Diseases suggest that the coronavirus, known East Timor, and Indonesia—of which the latter
officially as SARS-CoV-2, had infected people in had daily, direct flights to the virus epicenter,
the US even earlier. "SARS-CoV-2 infections may Wuhan. Every other country in the region — all
have been present in the US in December 2019, beneficiaries of Chinese aid, investment, and
earlier than previously recognized," the authors tourism—had reported cases (Barron).
said. This discovery added to evidence that the
virus was quietly spreading around the world Around the same time, more than 600
before health officials and the public were aware, Massachusetts residents who had recently
disrupting previous thinking of how the illness traveled to China quarantined themselves at home
first emerged and how it has since evolved. It also while being monitored for the novel coronavirus.
showed the virus's presence in US communities The quarantines were voluntary and last 14 days.
likely didn't start with the first identified case in For the most part, people in America began
January. Researchers came to this conclusion after to stay home. A CDC’s warning provided little
the CDC analyzed blood donations collected by the guidance on what actions people should take to
American Red Cross from residents in nine states. prepare, nor exactly what scenarios to prepare
They found evidence of coronavirus antibodies for. It coincided with the news that the Covid-19
18
