As you can see by clicking on the link below to a link of a screenshot I took off a World Bank page that's now been removed, many governments were already ordering COVID-19 testing equipment in 2018. Therefore, it was likely being allowed to spread, or actively being spread, as early as 2017, when Fauci announced to the world that the Trump Administration would be faced with a "surprise pandemic" at a press conference soon after Trump was sworn into office. However, do you remember any reports of Americans dropping dead from SARS-CoV-2 in 2017, 2018, 2019? Neither do I.

https://alaskaslist.com/extra/world_bank_screenshot.html