zlacker

I read a comment where someone suggested the virus originated at the market -- and was then caught by someone who works at the lab.

The interesting thing about that theory is: I don't know how to assess which of those two scenarios is more likely.

>>Milner+(OP)
A person gets sick after interacting with bats in the area, and then they talk to their virologist friend who works at the Wuhan Virology Institute and suddenly there are a rash of illnesses.

Do we still get to blame the lab for a leak?

>>Milner+(OP)
We know it existed in Wuhan before the superspreading incident at the market, that was not the origin.

>>unders+72
Except there's no bats in that area. At least not ones with SARS-CoV2.

>>buster+Or
There are no bats in Wuhan? I find that hard to believe.

There are no discovered bat populations in the Wuhan region with a SARS-COV2 ancestor, that's more likely.

That the only source of bats infected with a SARS-COV2 relative is in the Yunnan province, that's pretty unlikely.

>>Milner+(OP)
Remember that people at the lab were dicking around with bat coronavirus alterations!

While one might say that the same thing was happening in the market via natural gene replication and disease transmission, don't you think that someone intentionally altering parts of genes with the sole purpose of "gain-of-function" (making a more deadly virus) would be more likely to generate something like Covid-19 than a fishmonger who slaps another tilapia onto the ice?

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=gain+of+function

""Gain-of-function" is the euphemism for biological research aimed at increasing the virulence and lethality of pathogens and viruses. GoF research is government funded; its focus is on enhancing the pathogens' ability to infect different species and to increase their deadly impact as airborne pathogens and viruses.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=gain+of+function&t=opera&ia=web&ia..."

>>unders+NC1
There are three bat species with an identified SARS-CoV2 relative (RaTG13, RmYN02, RshSTT182 and RshSTT200) and none of them are found in Wuhan.

>>buster+S82
Yeah exactly.

> With over 100 species recognised, China has one of the richest bat faunas in the Palaearctic.

You need to prove a negative. You need to prove the bats in Wuhan don't have Covid. More and more bats in Yunnan doesn't do that.