I believe there may have been cases in the US a few months earlier than the virus was reported in China. The week before Thanksgiving I was deer hunting in KY, my guide had a really bad cough and upper respiratory infection that was kicking his azz. Before departing for my trip my wife had a moderately severe cough too, she did her best to socially distance herself from me so I wouldn't come down with a cough. About a week after returning from KY you guessed it I came down with a nasty cough that took longer to get rid of that usual. These examples lead me to believe that the virus was present in a weaker form prior to being recognized for being what it was.
