New Evidence from Italy of Earlier Spread

Italy's first community spread case occurred in mid-to-late February. Prior to that, there had been some cases linked to travel from China.

But now, tests of sewage samples collected in Milan and Turin on December 18 show evidence of the virus. Other cities showed evidence from January.

(Don't ask me who keeps sewage samples around for 6 months, but I guess that's what public works scientists do).

These dates make it harder to maintain the official story from China that the first case was in late November.

However, they are consistent with the evidence that there was something going on in the health system in Wuhan before mid-October (I covered that here), and the conjecture that international spread was related to auto shows held in Wuhan in early November (I covered that here). Wuhan is the center of auto manufacturing in China, and Turin is the center of auto manufacturing in Italy.

Here is a post detailing the results.