Your mention of having feelers out and Chinese purchases of masks and gloves during the early part of 2020 reminded me of some funny observations.
My wife and I were on top of Covid very early in January 2020 and went on a stockpiling spree. We got some funny comments about all the toilet paper we were buying from the delivery guys. I guess they understood in March.
But we also noticed a lot of Chinese nationals emptying stores of N95 masks. We went and bought a box of N95s and were halfway home when we thought we should go back and buy a box for our relatives. When we got to the car park there was this well dressed Chinese woman with a shopping cart overflowing will all the PPE equipment held by the store. I wonder what the checkout staff thought.
But the funniest thing was a conversation between a 12 year old Chinese girl and a young female staff member at the local supermarket in January 2020. The Chinese girl asked the employee in very broken English where they kept their face masks and the employee sent her down the beauty aisle. It was amusing to watch the confusion. Same planet, two entirely different worlds.
Wherever we looked (Australia) Chinese nationals were emptying shelves of PPE.
I am certain it was coordinated, e.g.
Anyhow, the point is, we were in the know and saw numerous grossly abnormal interactions that we could interpret correctly, but which were completely confusing to others around us who had no idea what was going on because Covid hadn’t hit the MSM yet.
One wonders what one misses on a daily basis because one isn’t clued into/looking out for something important. When you knew what to look for, it stuck out like a sore thumb, but otherwise…