**The virus may have been circulating in (State of ) Washington for six weeks, according to a genetic analysis. Researchers compared two samples of the virus, one from a person who traveled to Snohomish County from China in January, and one from a recently diagnosed high school student with no obvious cause. The genetic sequences were nearly identical, according to Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Although the work is early, Bedford believes there isn’t another good explanation for the similarity because of an unusual variant on one of the genes.
But most people had no idea the virus was circulating because the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wasn’t actively testing for the novel coronavirus in people with no known exposures to the illness — either from travel to an affected area or close contact with an existing case — until last week. That means detection of the novel coronavirus in the community lagged dangerously behind the virus’s actual circulation…:mad:**