China is honing in on claims made by a New Jersey mayor that he contracted COVID-19 as early as November, suggesting that the devastating ...
China is honing in on claims made by a New Jersey mayor that he contracted COVID-19 as early as November, suggesting that the devastating virus could have emerged in the US, not China.
On Wednesday Belleville Maayor Michael Melham told China Global Television Network that he believes he caught the novel coronavirus back in November – over a month before China reported their first case and two months before COVID-19 was believed to have landed in the US.
On Thursday Lijian Zhao, the spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, continued his campaign against the US, by casting blame on the US for the pandemic that has ravaged countries across the globe.
‘Chinese spokeswoman: More reports on previously undiscovered COVID-19 cases are emerging. New Jersey mayor was infected in November; 171 cases in Florida by January & NONE had been to China,’ Zhao tweeted Thursday.
'What else hasn’t been revealed in the US' he added.
On Thursday Lijian Zhao, the spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, continued to point fingers at the US by sharing Melham's claim saying: 'What else hasn't been revealed in the US'
On Wednesday Belleville Mayor Melham said he contracted the virus in November in Atlantic City and his doctor diagnosed him with a bad case of the flu. He claims that it was COVID-19, a month before the virus was first reported in China and two months before it landed in the US
The mayor of Belleville, NJ, Michael Melham @michaelmelham said he tested positive for #COVID19 antibodies and believed he contracted the virus in November last year, which was two months before the first reported cases in the US. #GlobalWatchTopStory
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Mayor Melham claimed he caught the virus at a convention in Atlantic City, but his doctor had diagnosed him with a bad case of the flu.
He had no respiratory symptoms and never tested for the coronavirus.
However, a recent blood test revealed he had coronavirus antibodies, which suggest but do not confirm, that he had the virus.
Melham said multiple people from the conference have contacted him saying they too experienced extreme flu-like symptoms after the gathering.
He described whatever virus he contracted made him feel 'like a heroin addict going through withdrawals', according to Fox News.
'I didn't know what was happening to me. I never felt that I could be so sick,' he said.
On Tuesday Melham tweeted a warning that China is twisting his words and alluding that the virus originated in the US, saying 'I never claimed to be patient zero...I never claimed the virus started in the US'
He followed up saying: 'In no way was I implying it started in the US. I'm merely saying, it was here earlier than claimed'
'We all hear about how COVID-19 didn't really exist here in the US until January. That is obviously not the case. I am living, breathing proof that we were all dealing with it months earlier,' he added.
However, data from a genetic study in London released this week suggests that the virus emerged in China as early as October.Now China is pushing his claims to defend their name, especially as the Trump administration has accused China of failing to contain the virus and of concealing the severity of the breakout that has now infected more than 3.7million and killed more than 264,000 worldwide.
The US believed its first case of COVID-19 was a man in Washington state who passed away on February 28.
However, late last month Santa Clara County posthumously identified three people who died of COVID-19, including a person who passed away on February 6, three weeks earlier than when the virus was believed to have touched down in the US.
Santa Clara County also reported two other COVID-19 deaths on February 17 and March 6.
In the US overall there are over 1.2million cases and over 76,000 deaths from the virus. New Jersey currently has the second largest breakout of COVID-19 in the country with over 133,000 infections and over 8,800 fatalities as of Thursday evening.
Mayor Melham has been criticized for his comments and claims as the state continues to reel from the impact of the virus.
New Jersey Advance Media’s Jeremy Schneider condemned Melham for his account.
'New Jersey is in crisis. There is no room for conjecture right now, especially from public officials, who should be keeping all our little panic planes grounded in fact,' he said.
China has also honed in on new health data from Florida saying that as many as 171 people in the state had COVID-19 as early as January.
Those records were obtained by the Palm Beach Post, however they don’t say if patients reported the systems until months later or if officials were investigating the virus at the time. The state pulled those records from their website late Monday.
'This thing was here earlier than we thought. I was talking to the head of the [Super Bowl] committee and I was like, there’s no way we didn’t have this in the Super Bowl,' Gov. Ron DeSantis said on May 1.
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