It is important to be specific with qualifiers in this. The scientists "fell ill". Local hospitals became unusually busy. This is not all that unusual and re

It is important to be specific with qualifiers in this. The scientists "fell ill". Local hospitals became unusually busy. This is not all that unusual and relates to the common practice of wearing masks which has been well established for many years. It is quite possible that was a bad flu event that preceded the COVID-19 outbreak.