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Suara.com – A new study by para researchers America, showing that the deadly coronavirus (Covid-19), may have reached Los Angeles, at the end of last December. That is, it was actively circulating in the area several months before the first definitive case in the United States.
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), evaluated more than 10 million patients and health records for UCLA Health outpatients, emergency departments and hospital facilities, from December 1, 2019 to February 29, 2020, and compared them.
They compared records with data from the same period for the previous five years. They find a trend that’s troubling.
Outpatient clinic visits by UCLA patients seeking cough care, increased by more than 50 percent and exceeded the average number of visits for the same complaint, over the previous five years by more than 1,000.
They also found a “significant” excess in the number of patients seen in the emergency department, with reports of cough and hospitalized patients with acute respiratory failure during this time period.
These advantages remain, even after accounting for changes in patient populations and seasonal variations, according to the study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
“For many illnesses, data from outpatient settings can provide early warning to hospital emergency departments and intensive care units of what’s to come,” said Joann Elmore, lead author of the study and professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine. at UCLA Xinhua, Friday (11/9/2020).
“The majority of the Covid-19 studies evaluated inpatient data, but we are also looking at larger outpatient clinic settings, where most patients first turn to medical care when disease and symptoms appear,” said Elmore.
The investigators noted the high number of visitors, patients and hospitalists who demonstrated the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the community before clinical awareness and testing capabilities were established.
This may suggest that the coronavirus has arrived quietly and is starting to build a foothold undetected on the West Coast around Christmas 2019. If true, it will shake up the current narrative about the origin of the virus in the country.
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