ORLANDO, Fla. – The director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County believes he may have had coronavirus in January, even though COVID-19 wasn’t officially announced in the state until March 1.
Dr. Raul Pino broke the news during a press conference Wednesday after a question from News 6.
He later elaborated and said his symptoms matched COVID-19 symptoms.
“I remember losing my sense of taste and smell and I thought that was strange,” Pino said. “At the time I didn’t know that’s one of the early symptoms and then one day, I slept 14 hours. I don’t sleep more than six, and then I started feeling really lousy. I even said my prayers, I was scared,” he said.
[Timeline: The spread of coronavirus in Florida]
Pino’s illness is significant because it was two month’s before the state of Florida announced it’s first presumed cases of COVID-19 on March 1.
It is more evidence that the virus may have been in the state much earlier than first believed.
On March 31, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he believed the virus was circulating during the Super Bowl in Miami in February.
The timeline of when the virus arrived in Florida is an issue the CEO of AdventHealth, Daryl Tol, addressed Thursday morning during a Facebook live chat.
“When researchers go back and they look at the cause of death of individuals, it probably was in China earlier, it probably was here earlier and it took some time to ramp up,” Tol said.
After analyzing data from the state’s website, the Palm Beach Post reported this week that 171 patients had coronavirus symptoms or positive test results in January and February.
But according to the Post, the state removed the data from its website Monday night.
"It's interesting to think it could have been present before it was on our radar," Tol said.
News 6 contacted the Florida Department of Health to inquire about the January cases, but did not hear back.