
French hospital discovers Covid-19 case from December - prmph
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/04/french-hospital-discovers-covid-19-case-december-retested
======
krn
I am not surprised, knowing that[1]:

> As far back as late November, U.S. intelligence officials were warning that
> a contagion was sweeping through China’s Wuhan region, changing the patterns
> of life and business and posing a threat to the population, according to
> four sources briefed on the secret reporting.

> Concerns about what is now known to be the novel coronavirus pandemic were
> detailed in a November intelligence report by the military's National Center
> for Medical Intelligence (NCMI), according to two officials familiar with
> the document’s contents.

> The report was the result of analysis of wire and computer intercepts,
> coupled with satellite images. It raised alarms because an out-of-control
> disease would pose a serious threat to U.S. forces in Asia -- forces that
> depend on the NCMI’s work.

[1] [https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/intelligence-report-
warned-c...](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/intelligence-report-warned-
coronavirus-crisis-early-november-sources/story?id=70031273)

~~~
lsllc
The ABC News article was deemed "not correct":

 _" As a matter of practice the National Center for Medical Intelligence does
not comment publicly on specific intelligence matters. However, in the
interest of transparency during this current public health crisis, we can
confirm that media reporting about the existence/release of a National Center
for Medical Intelligence Coronavirus-related product/assessment in November of
2019 is not correct. No such NCMI product exists," Colonel Dr. R. Shane Day,
director of the National Center for Medical Intelligence, said._

Quoted here a few paragraphs down:

[https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/politics/intel-agencies-
covid...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/politics/intel-agencies-covid-
november/index.html)

~~~
krn
It was separately confirmed to be correct two days later by NBC News[1]:

> U.S. spy agencies collected raw intelligence hinting at a public health
> crisis in Wuhan, China, in November, two current and one former U.S.
> official told NBC News, but the information was not understood as the first
> warning signs of an impending global pandemic.

> On Wednesday night, the Defense Department disputed an ABC News report that
> an "intelligence report" had warned about the coronavirus in November.

> But the current and former officials told NBC News that while no formal
> assessment was produced in November — and hence no "intelligence product,"
> in the jargon of the spy agencies — there was intelligence that caught the
> attention of public health analysts and fueled formal assessments that were
> written in December.

[1] [https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/u-s-
spy-a...](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/u-s-spy-agencies-
collected-raw-intel-hinting-public-health-n1180646)

------
pvaldes
Talking about Covid, France is one strange outlier. Something is happening
with their numbers.

~~~
jobigoud
What do you mean?

~~~
giardini
pvaldes explains this in another Hacker News discussion: see pvaldes post that
starts with

 _" We have a single virus, but it does not behave the same."_

in pvaldes profile at:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=pvaldes](https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=pvaldes)

------
hanuman
Maybe. More likely a false positive? Hopefully they repeated and followed up
with tests from other providers to confirm.

~~~
prmph
From the article:

> Each sample was retested several times to ensure that there were no errors,
> he added

~~~
hanuman
I still think a contaminated sample is more likely, all else being equal. Not
saying this is impossible, but would like to see at least a few other cases
this early. If this patient had not been to China then there must be some.

And if this turns out to be a true positive then it indicates the virus is so
contagious that it spread that far and wide, that quickly, that overall
infection must be much more widespread than is thought.

~~~
Moru
His wife worked together with people from China.

