A Man Predicted the Coronavirus Was Coming in a 2013 Tweet — Here’s the Story

There are a lot of things in this world that just don’t make sense. Like, how did the pyramids really get built? The narrative of massive ramps and skilled labor sounds good and all, but c’mon, each stone on the Great Pyramid weighs about 2.5 tons, per PBS. Logically, it just doesn’t add up.

The Bermuda Triangle is another head-scratcher. And so is this post on X (formerly Twitter) that resurfaced from June 2013 from a man named Marco Acortes (@Marco_Acortes).

Because in that post, he predicts what would later become one of the world’s deadliest epidemics — the COVID-19 pandemic. In his tweet, Marco writes, “Corona virus… its coming. [sic]” And, indeed, the coronavirus did come in 2020, causing widespread panic, illness, and death. Now, his post is getting renewed attention, especially after MrBeast commented on it in November 2025. Here’s the extent of what we know about this Marco dude.

So it would seem Marco Acortes has some explaining to do, but apparently, he hasn’t been very active on social media in quite some time. On his X page, where he posted the now-famous line “Corona virus… its coming” seven years before the COVID-19 virus began plaguing the globe, his last post was in 2016.

You’d think he’d come back and revisit his prediction, especially since the post has over 27,000 comments and more than 580,000 likes. But he hasn’t.

He apparently also has a YouTube channel called Vlogs From The 6, but even there, his last upload came in 2021, and he still doesn’t mention anything about his coronavirus prediction.

Maybe he’s trying to play dumb so folks will forget about it and keep the government off his back (JK, I won’t play into conspiracy theories). But the truth is, people can’t forget about Marco’s post.

And while many had already revisited it and commented on it in the past, November 2025 has brought a fresh wave of attention, especially after MrBeast playfully commented, “When does GTA 6 drop???” on Nov. 16.

Another person jokingly wrote, “If you’re wondering where he is now, he’s Chief Writer for The Simpsons.” If you’ve been keeping up with the news lately, then you know one of The Simpsons writers, Dan McGrath, passed away on Nov. 14, 2025.

You see what they did there? They’re implying Marco is gone because he made a wild prediction that actually came true, just like the show has done on multiple occasions. Or maybe he’s being held captive somewhere and used to make further predictions (cue the thinking face emoji).

But in all seriousness, Marco’s post is pretty wild, and while many of the reactions show just how shocked people are, others say he didn’t “predict” anything at all.

X user @LauraMiers argued, “He wasn’t predicting the future, rather we simply IGNORED two decades of warnings,” and she shared a screenshot of a real 2013 NPR article titled “Outbreak in Saudi Arabia Echoes SARS Epidemic 10 Years Ago.” So maybe Marco was just paying attention to global health trends and thought, “Hm, I think another SARS-like outbreak is on the horizon.”

Either way, people are pressing Marco for answers. In the comments of one of his last YouTube videos, someone even wrote, “Hi, we need an explanation about that corona v1rus tweet from 2013.” And honestly, it would be nice to have one, Marco — in case you happen to come across this.