A new study from Harvard Medical School led by Dr. John Brownstein revealed that satellite images of some hospital in Wuhan showed hospital traffic increased by up to 90% between 2018 and 2019. According to Brownstein, the increase started happening in 'late summer' last year.
Moreover, there was also an increase in internet searches for coronavirus-like symptoms such as cough which suggests that COVID-19 could have hit China earlier than previously thought - before autumn. The research pointed to something taking place in Wuhan at the time, said Dr. Brownstein.
Is There Something Going on in China at That Time?
According to a news report by ABC News, the traffic surge 'coincided' with the rise in internet searches for symptoms that are 'closely associated' with coronavirus. Presently, coronavirus has already recorded more than 400,000 deaths.
Previous reports have also said that China failed to notify the World Health Organization the urgency of the new respiratory pathogen outbreak in Wuhan not until December 31. It was a move that received heavy criticisms around the world.
At the time, the outbreak was described as a 'cluster' of pneumonia, but the US intelligence reports that the problem has been sweeping throughout Wuhan since November.
In Brownstein's research, it looked at images taken by the satellite and assess patterns of behavior among communities that could possibly explain the origin of the virus.
The research counted cars at hospitals across 108 satellite images which showed full parking lots as a hospital gets busy. Therefore, the more cars in a hospital mean a hospital is busier. Researchers believe it could likely because something is going on in the community; perhaps a growing infection among the citizens, and they are seeing a doctor.
As featured on @ABC and @GMA, @RSMetrics partnered w/ @BostonChildrens to measure #hospitaltraffic in #Wuhan China from Jan 2018 to May 2020. Spikes at major hospitals occurred in the Sept-Dec 2019 4 months before the #Coronavirus outbreak #Covid19
Sales@rsmetrics.com pic.twitter.com/b5Jh8ljEuf — RS Metrics (@RSMetrics) June 8, 2020
Increase in Hospital Traffic
The results of Brownstein's study pointed out that this could likely be the case during that time. He emphasized that during October 10, 2019, about 285 cars parked at Wuhan's Tianyou Hospital. That is a 67% increase compared to 2018's 171 recorded that same day, Daily Mail reported.
Meanwhile, the study also showed that other hospitals have also revealed a traffic increase of 90% between 2018 and 2019. For instance, Wuhan Tongji Medical University saw a spike in car traffic in mid-September 2019
Furthermore, the researchers also compared the parking activity at the Huanan Seafood Market in mid-September and after it was shut down. They found that there is a significant change in parking activity which supports the idea that movement can be tracked through the lens of parked cars.
According to Tom Diamond, the president of RS Metrics who closely worked with the research team from Harvard, the results showed an evident trend during that time.
A Surge of Internet Traffic on Coronavirus-like Symptoms
The satellites may have shown the surge in road traffic in Wuhan during that time, but there is something else that spiked in Wuhan at the same time. The region saw online traffic increase among China's Baidu search engine looking for information on cough and diarrhea-which later on was added to the official coronavirus symptoms.
"The increase of both signals precede the documented start of the COVID-19 pandemic in December," Brownstein said.
