美国新冠肺炎疫情究竟何时开始，是各方关注的话题。由于美国政府过去几个月来在新冠肺炎病人检测上的不作为，使得确诊的首例新冠肺炎病人时间与疫情爆发实际时间有较大差距。
不过群众的眼睛是雪亮的。在USA TODAY的一篇报道A New York neurosurgeon has coronavirus. This is what he wants people to know的下面，美国网友间接发表了自己对疫情爆发时间点的认知。
这是一篇对一位经历过新冠肺炎的医生的报道，在这篇报道里，医生描述了自己感受的新冠肺炎症状，不少网友认为，自己和自己周围的其他人早就有同样的经历但一直认为是流感。
下面请看部分网友的自述
Albertus3 hours ago
same thing I felt in december. this has been here for a while and is peaking
我在去年12月也有同样的感觉。这已经有一段时间了现在应该到顶峰了
Brent2 hours ago
I had what I thought was a flu early this year. It started mildly, and I too thought it was just a cold. However, I soon developed what I would say was the worst cough I've ever had. A LOT of folks in the office had a severe cough in late December and early January. Will be interesting if they come up with after-the-fact testing for those who think they were affected.
我今年年初也有过，我以为是流感。它开始时温和，我想这只是感冒。但是，这很快发展成我有史以来最严重的咳嗽。办公室的很多人在12月下旬和1月初都是如此。如果他们有新冠肺炎感染的疑问而提出事后测试，将会很有趣。
Flo2 hours ago
First week of January, I had sudden onset of scratchy throat, sneezing, chills, slight fever which progressed to non productive coughs and then diarrhea for two days. Symptoms cleared in one week except for the cough which lingered for two more weeks. I have never had such a forceful non productive cough which caused me to splint my chest to alleviate the pain.
一月的第一周，我突然出现喉咙发痒，打喷嚏，发冷，轻微发烧，并发展为无症状的咳嗽，然后腹泻了两天。除咳嗽持续两周外，症状在一周内消失。我从未经历过如此强烈的无症状咳嗽，迫使我压迫胸部以减轻疼痛。
Best Friend of Sally2 hours ago
I had the same conditions in mid-Feb here in LA that he is describing. I treated it as the flu.
我二月中旬在洛杉矶经历的情况与之相同。我把它当作流感。
Reckless Move59 minutes ago
I have the exact same symptoms. My doctor didn't test, just sent me home.
我有完全相同的症状。我的医生没有做病毒测试，只是让我回家。
C22 minutes ago
I am a very healthy 61 yo female with an excellent immune system.
In mid January I had what started as a "cold" left work for the day and it hit me like a train.
I called out the next day (which I never do) and slept for 4 days My symptoms were extreme chills my body shook in a hot shower my body ached I was delirious sick to the point that I felt I should let someone know I was in a bad place. I had to add a down comforter doubled up with an additional blanked raised the heat to 70 degrees still shaking under covers.
This was the sickest I have been in over a decade.
我是一位非常健康的61岁女性，有很棒的免疫功能。
1月中旬的某一天，我开始发寒，那种感觉像受到火车撞击我只能丢下停工。
第二天我难受得叫出声来（这是我从来没有过的），此后我睡了四天。我的症状是极度发冷，在热水澡时我的身体打颤，我的身体感到很痛，精神错乱，以至于我觉得应该让别人知道我的状况很糟。这是我十多年来最恶心的经历。
根据网友自认的经历，美国新冠肺炎疫情流行不迟于去年12月。而CDC认可的美国首例新冠肺炎病人是一位2020年1月19日就诊的35岁男性，相对应的是，中国官方认可的武汉首例新冠肺炎病人发病日期为2019年12月8日。
究竟美国新冠肺炎疫情起于何时，流感中新冠肺炎占比多少，与中国新冠肺炎爆发和流行的关系如何，相信随着时间的推移，对美国新冠肺炎病人实测数据的分析，以及对美国真实流行史的调查研究，将会有一个客观的说明。
