Thread by @EWoodhouse7

The Cook County Medical Examiner has added two early 2020 deaths to its COVID19 register, one on 1/4/2020 & the other on 2/24/2020. Both nursing home residents.

Unless an error, this changes the documented timeline for virus' presence in Illinois considerably (Thread)

1/

Both deaths - one in Chicago & one in Skokie - list incident dates of 12/22/20, but death dates in Jan & Feb 2020, respectively.

The 1/4/20 date could be a typo (for 1/4/2021), but not the 2/26/20 date. datacatalog.cookcountyil.gov/Public-Safety/…

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But both dates also now appear on the CCME's COVID deaths graph. (I check the graph & register frequently - both are newly-added).

maps.cookcountyil.gov/medexamcovid19/

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Last week, CDC added Jan 2020 COVID deaths to its data. The week-ending 1/4/20 now shows 1 death from IL, as does the week ending 1/18/20. Perhaps latter was in another county? h/t @RHSCoachGoetz

Don't see a new COVID death for the week ending 2/29/20
data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provision…

4/

Previously, the first COVID19 death in Cook Co - and Illinois - was said to be 61-YO retired nurse Patricia Frieson nbcchicago.com/news/local/fir…

wbez.org/stories/the-fi…

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You may recall that the "first known person-to-person transmission of COVID19" was a Chicago-area woman who returned from Wuhan on Jan 23, 2020 & became sick, and infected her husband, who also become sick. thelancet.com/journals/lance…

6/

Chicago media reported these cases on January 30, 2020.

(FYI: Reading this article may trigger people who are fed up with public health officials) chicagotribune.com/business/ct-bi…
7/

So with the addition of 1 COVID-attributed death in Cook County on 1/4/20, and another COVID-attributed death in January elsewhere in Illinois, we need a new narrative about when the virus was actually in the city/state.

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Reminder that one recent study found SARS-CoV-2 reactive antibodies in blood samples taken from patients in states like California, Oregon, and Washington as early as December 13–16, 2019. wsj.com/articles/covid…

9/

Anecdotally, my spouse & I were sick with "not the flu" in mid-January 2019 - first my spouse, then me. (I recall the timeframe b/c we were on a trip when he was fighting the crazy cough part.)

10/

I've also spoken with numerous Chicago-area doctors, nurses, and regular folks who believe "not the flu" was here in October/November 2019 - either b/c they were sick and tested negative for flu, or b/c they treated patients who had "not the flu"

11/

As time goes on, more evidence of COVID being here much sooner than we're now willing to admit will undoubtedly be unearthed (exposed?).

Some folks say deaths didn't rise like crazy til spring b/c the virus was seeding til then. Ok.

IMHO it was...human intervention.

END

Data entry errors confirmed by CCME.

https://twitter.com/EWoodhouse7/status/1350147666655801344?s=20