A report claims to have evidence that this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas played a key role in spreading the coronavirus throughout the US.
The event, held in January, carried on amid the outbreak happening in China, which experts say created ‘an ideal venue for transmission.’
Multiple attendees became seriously ill following the days after CES, but was dismissed as nothing more than having the ‘CES flu’ that occurs every year.
However, these individuals suffered different symptoms than previous years including fever, shortness of breath, dry cough, pains and body aches – all of which are caused by COVID-19.
A professor who attended the conference came down with a sickness after the event and recently tested positive for the coronavirus – making his case ‘the first clear evidence that the virus was likely circulating at the conference.’
The conference was attended by more than 180,000 people, many of whom were from outside of the US, and more than 100 of the people traveled from Wuhan, China where the coronavirus first began.
Scroll down for video
A report claims to have evidence that this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas played a key role in spreading the coronavirus throughout the US. The event, held in January, carried on amid the outbreak happening in China, which experts say created ‘an ideal venue for transmission’
The news comes from APM Reports, an investigative news publication, which spoke with one of the attendees who recently tested positive for the coronavirus.
DailyMail.com reached out to CES for comment and has yet to receive a response.
Michael Webber, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, tested positive for antibodies for Covid-19 this week and although CES was held months ago, he had fallen ill shortly after the conference ended.
Theories that the virus made landfall in the US during CES has been spreading around the web.
Michael Webber (pictured), a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, tested positive for antibodies for Covid-19 this week and although CES was held months ago, he had fallen ill shortly after the conference ended. He recently tested positive for the virus
But APM Reports says his test results are ‘the first clear evidence that the virus was likely circulating at the conference.’
Webber told the publication that his ‘revelation comes at the same time that public health officials in Northern California, including Silicon Valley, reported three newly confirmed coronavirus deaths.’
He also shared his struggle on Twitter, noting he felt swollen, had body aches, struggled to breath and had a fever for days.
A tweet on January 18 read: ‘I know in my brain I don’t have this virus,’ he wrote. ‘But I spent last week in Las Vegas w/ my boss at #CES2020 w/ 170k people including many from China & we got a weird respiratory cold that made us sick for a week so my paranoid self is convinced that I have this new killer virus.’
This post went up a week after CES came to a close and on the same day the first Americans were tested for coronavirus.
Others also shared their misery of an illness.
NrPena wrote: ‘OMG will this #CES2020 #flu/ #cold go away?! 10 days back in #ATX & still coughing.’
The timing of CES, which was held January 7 through 10 and its attendees could be create a trail of how the virus spread through Silicon Valley at a time when the US was not aware of its implications, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert and professor at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.
APM Reports says Webber’s test results are ‘the first clear evidence that the virus was likely circulating at the conference’
Not only did people from China and people from at least 63 other countries attended, but the setup of the event is a breeding ground for disease. Some attendees used Twitter to see if anyone else had fallen severely ill after the event
‘As a clinician, it was weird to be in the Bay Area to see Santa Clara County being the hotspot,’ he said.
‘You would think it would be San Francisco because there’s tons of people going into [the airport] and a lot of Chinese population, but I think there has to be something else to this.’
However, Chin-Hong also noted that more research needs to be done in order to link CES to the spreading of the virus.
Not only did people from China and people from at least 63 other countries attend, but the setup of the event is a breeding ground for disease.
Others also shared their misery of an illness. NrPena wrote: ‘OMG will this #CES2020 #flu/ #cold go away?! 10 days back in #ATX & still coughing.
CES organizers told APM Reports that they are not aware of any confirmed cases of the virus from the conference, but many attendees have come forward about being severely ill
Convention halls and casinos are packed with people who are exchanging business cards with anyone and everyone they meet.
This environment does spread an illness every year, which is known as the ‘CES flu.’
But this year’s symptoms seemed to be a little different.
Multiple people who left sick said they experienced fever, shortness of breath, dry cough, aches and pains – all the symptoms reported by those with the coronavirus.
CES organizers told APM Reports that they are not aware of any confirmed cases of the virus from the conference.
The US has been hit the hardest by the virus than any other country in the world. There are more 2.5 million cases and the death toll has surpassed 174,000 as of Thursday evening
They also have not been contacted by any health, government, or corporate officials who suspected someone who attended the conference was exposed to the virus.
However, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) sent out a stark warning to healthcare workers across the US that a potential virus may be spreading in the nation the week of the event.
And noted that it could be found specifically in those who have traveled to Wuhan and are experiencing unique respiratory symptoms.
The US has been hit the hardest by the virus than any other country in the world.
There are more 2.5 million cases and the death toll has surpassed 174,000 as of Thursday evening.