Four questions the US must answer concerning COVID-19

The coronavirus situation in the US is deteriorating rapidly, with the country's infections surpassing 1 million on Tuesday and death toll topping 63,000 on Friday. Anyone with sympathy is concerned about the epidemic in the US, yet some US politicians are busy scapegoating China rather than saving lives or reflecting on their own anti-virus efforts. Recently, reports from US mainstream media show that people are having an increasing number of questions about the US epidemic. It is hoped that the US government can provide clear answers to the world in an open, transparent and responsible manner.

First, when and where did the novel coronavirus break out in the US?

A report released in late April by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department in California suggests that a 57-year-old woman from the county died from COVID-19 on February 6, about three weeks earlier than what was originally thought to be the US' first death caused by the virus. Local health authorities said this victim had no history of travel to China or to any other countries where the outbreak occurred.

If so, how did this early patient become infected? The autopsy report of the 57-year-old was completed on February 7, but was not signed until April 23. What happened over those two and a half months?

On March 11, Robert Redfield, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), admitted that some in the US who were previously thought to have been killed from the flu may have been infected with the novel coronavirus. A report from the US CDC showed that there were at least 34 million cases of the flu in the US last winter and that at least 20,000 people died from the flu.

Among the large number of reported influenza patients in the US, how many cases were misdiagnosed and had actually been infected with the novel coronavirus? Where was patient zero in the US? When did the outbreak occur in the US? How credible is the data previously released by the US government? Was the US government intentionally hiding something due to political considerations?