When did COVID-19 really start spreading in the U.S.?

Remember those confusing early weeks of the pandemic, when COVID-19 seemed like a distant threat? A new report suggests the virus was already spreading quietly in American communities much earlier than many people understood. The evidence points to limited community transmission likely beginning in late January or early February 2020. It appears the virus arrived through a single importation from China, followed by multiple importations from Europe, seeding those early, undetected chains of infection. This report is trying to reconstruct a timeline from the pandemic's murky beginning. It's important to note the language here—the findings are described as 'suggesting' this scenario and qualified with 'likely.' This isn't a definitive epidemiological study with hard numbers or statistical measures. It's a descriptive report piecing together evidence, helping us understand how the virus slipped into daily life before most of us were paying attention.