A Covid-infected attendee emerges from CES, a massive tech conference in January

[LiberalArkie]

When a doctor phoned Michael Webber on Monday with the results of his antibody test for the coronavirus, her first word was filled with irony: "Congratulations." He had tested positive, meaning that the 49-year-old who divides his time between Texas and France had been infected with the virus and recovered.

While millions of people worldwide will likely have antibody tests that return positive results, Webber's outcome offers new insight into how the virus may have begun to spread. He was among more than 170,000 people who attended the Consumer Electronics Show between Jan. 7 and 10 in Las Vegas, a four-day event that attracted technology professionals from around the world.

Speculation has been whipping around social media for months that the virus might have incubated during CES and was sprayed worldwide when attendees traveled home. However, Webber's disclosure of his test result to APM Reports is the first clear evidence that the virus was likely circulating at the conference.

Webber's revelation comes at the same time that public health officials in Northern California, including Silicon Valley, reported three newly confirmed coronavirus deaths. One of those deaths was in early February, which indicates that the virus was probably spreading in the United States weeks earlier than previously thought.

More



https://www.apmreports.org/story/2020/04/23/covid-infected-attendee-ces-tech-conference

[Renew Deal]

1. I know a bunch of people that were sign in the late January, early February time frame

with heavy symptoms. It was all diagnosed as the "flu"

[MineralMan]

2. Makes perfect sense.

CES attracts both vendors and attendees from all over the world. I used to attend it every year back in the 1990s. The convention floor is a huge petri dish. So, that "cold" people had after CES could well have been COVID-19. Wouldn't surprise me one bit.

So, how about we do an antibody test on everyone who attended and their contacts? There's a list. That would be a very interesting experiment, just to see how prevalent it was at the trade show and among contacts attendees had.

[Pacifist Patriot]

4. Makes complete sense and would be worthwhile data.

So it will never happen.

[redstatebluegirl]

7. Makes great scientific sense, the reason it will never happen with this Administration.

One of the many scientific labs studying this right now might find that a very real project. There is actually one at UNLV doing some research on COVID-19.

[luvs2sing]

3. Keeping a very close watch on this..

Hubster works in IT. Don’t know if anyone he works with was at CES but, during the last couple weeks of January, a bunch of people he worked with got very sick. Several of them stayed home for a week or more. He got sick the last week of January, and I caught it a couple days later. Our symptoms were relatively mild, headache and body aches, fever in the 100-101 range for a couple days, chest tightness and cough, GI issues, and fatigue. Both of us felt better within about three days, though he coughed for a few weeks, and I experienced chest tightness and coughing until mid-March. It was an illness that did not behave like any other illness either of us had experienced.

[roamer65]

5. I had it the same time.

Early to mid January. It was so bad I had to hit an asthma inhaler. It had been YEARS since I had to use one.

This bug hopped on a plane from China somewhere in December, maybe even late November.

[Bad Thoughts]

6. The ultimate con crud

Please, let's not reopen Vegas.

[Pacifist Patriot]

8. Has anyone else been seeing an increase in first hand accounts of...

people who claim to have suffered:

* in the United States
* from a "strange flu-like disease"
* that "just felt oddly different"
* and/or "lasted for what felt like forever/couldn't shake it for weeks"
* and "tested negative for flu"
* from late November to middle of January?

I've been encountering these with increasing frequency on social media sites and in comment sections on news articles over the last few weeks. I'm not sure what to make of it, if anything. These are anecdotal, largely anonymous, and unconfirmed - so I remain skeptical.

The human brain and the internet being what they are, who knows what these people, if they are real, actually experienced in the midst of a cold and flu season that is now complicated by COVID. I have a co-worker convinced he had COVID over the Christmas holidays although he did not travel and no one else in his family or our company have become sick. In his case I suspect wishful thinking that he's had it and is now immune. I don't blame him for that one bit. It's an attractive psychological coping mechanism.

On the other hand, COVID wasn't on the radar at that time, so doctors didn't even know to look for it. And couldn't have tested for it if they did suspect a novel disease.

With stories like the Santa Clara medical examiner providing evidence the first US death was weeks earlier than previously assumed and this one about CES, I admit I'm intrigued. How long has this been in circulation.

[marlakay]

9. I am one of those was sick for 5 weeks in Dec/Jan

Wish I could have test. It was the weirdest flu or? I ever had, I was so weak, fever, cough really bad, etc and I had the flu shot. And I got it right after I went to bay area CA for a visit Nov 30.

[Pacifist Patriot]

10. And your experience is precisely why we need a reliable antibody test.

Emphasis on the word reliable.

[marlakay]

11. I agree, can we trust tests?

My neighbor got a covid test and was negative and he had pneumonia and is a teacher, his family got sick to for weeks and weren’t tested. I wonder if they had more tests if that would change? I have read stories of people who ended up in hospital or dead who had many tests and a bunch negative.

So reliable tests is the key!

[Alex4Martinez]

12. Oh shit, that's a perfect storm and perfect timing.

Global Electronics, China and other suppliers from Malaysia, etc., Silicon Valley and Washington State and all in early January!

Surprised this is only emerging now.

Wow.