Italian scientists investigate possible earlier emergence of coronavirus

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian researchers are looking at whether a higher than usual number of cases of severe pneumonia and flu in Lombardy in the last quarter of 2019 may be a signal that the new coronavirus might have spread beyond China earlier than previously thought.

Adriano Decarli, an epidemiologist and medical statistics professor at the University of Milan, said there had been a “significant” increase in the number of people hospitalized for pneumonia and flu in the areas of Milan and Lodi between October and December last year.

He told Reuters he could not give exact figures but “hundreds” more people than usual had been taken to hospital in the last three months of 2019 in those areas - two of Lombardy’s worst hit cities - with pneumonia and flu-like symptoms, and some of those had died. -- excerpt, rest at link above --

It's possible given that 300,000 Wuhan natives live and work in Italy's garment industry and travel back and forth. It's also possible that the pneumonia are flu complications in Italy's vulnerable elderly population. Looks like we'll never know.