I was almost afraid to share this little anecdote until now because i was afraid people would think i made it up for clout but now that bob has told his story about his wife, i know im not alone.

Early September 2019, back to school. For about the first week of school I had a slightly itchy throat, which progressed into a somewhat annoying cough, but nothing concerning yet. After the first week or so it progressed to a point where I couldn’t talk at all, or in any way resonate my vocal cords or throat or I would bust out in uncontrollable coughing. It got to a point where I realized it would last a while so I started having my grandma teach me America Sign Language essentials so i could properly communicate with the people around me. This lasted about a month. Sometimes my parents would grill me about the dangers of drugs, thinking that this was caused by suddenly taking up smoking or something, and when i denied it they took me to the doctor to get me tested. No results came up that were concerning so they told me to just wait it out and take cough drops often.

Coincidentally a few months later in early 2020 we learn of this mysterious virus from the east that had suspiciously similar similarities to the coughing i had.

Did people in the US have covid before it was officially announced as an outbreak? Does anyone else have any similar stories?