Most New York COVID-19 Cases Came From Europe, Says New Study
Most New York COVID-19 Cases Came From Europe, Says New Study

Most New York COVID-19 Cases Came From Europe, Says New Study The research was conducted by geneticists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The research found that the coronavirus was in circulation in New York in mid-Feb., weeks before the first known case was confirmed.

It found that the virus was brought to New York mostly by travelers from Europe, not from Asia.

This reveals that the lack of early testing procedures in the U.S. helped perpetuate the second-largest outbreak in the world.

When testing was implemented in the U.S., it was limited only to travelers from Asia.

This also added to the massive spread of the coronavirus.

As of Thursday morning, almost 150,000 cases had been reported in New York.

Currently, only Spain has more cases.

Dr. Adriana Heguy, NYU, via 'The New York Times' Because viruses mutate at a consistent pace, scientists are able to track when and where a new strain of coronavirus mutation emerged.

They do this by studying the genome of a virus.

Their research is uploaded to an online database known as GISAID.

Scientists describe these distinct versions of the coronavirus as branches of a family tree, the origin of which likely developed in China over the course of several years or even decades.

Seven lineages of the virus circulating in New York have been identified.

Researchers believe there are more.