Excellent summary. I remember when the rumors started flying about mass deaths in China, then Italy, I was skeptical. So I came here (it was Steem at the time) to see if anyone was posting about it. Lots of CN posts, no mention of a mysterious disease or deaths, nor people being welded in their homes. Nothing in our Italian community either. Interesting, you'd think such a major event would be significant to the people living there, and not solely a trending story on the mainstream platforms...

A few weeks later I finally began to see covid-related posts, but never about anyone falling ill, only about the lockdowns beginning across the globe.

Strange that a disease so deadly it necessitated lockdowns would not have been affecting any households, anywhere, before the lockdowns, no?