What I'm wondering is if this was a one-time event, or whether these people had been continually slaughtering pigs over a period of days. If so, couldn't it be that they were infected while slaughtering an earlier pig and symptoms began appearing only after they finished the last pig?
Yep.
Something strange is going on. But since the Chinese won't release any info, we really don't have any of the answers we need.
China may be endangering the whole world. Why? Do they have something to hide? Is it to save face?