Report: COVID-19 lab leak theory unlikely

[Jim__]

From MedicalXpress:

Today's COVID-19 pandemic likely began when an infected animal passed the SARS-CoV-2 virus to a human at a live animal market in Wuhan, China. In a critical review published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell, 21 scientific experts from across the world present evidence that this scenario is much more probable than the novel disease originating from a laboratory accident, a theory that has received attention in the media.

"The discussion over the origins of the pandemic have become politicized and heated, and we felt the time was right to take a critical look at all of the available evidence," says Stephen Goldstein, Ph.D., an author on the paper and evolutionary virologist at University of Utah Health. Corresponding authors are Edward Holmes, Ph.D., The University of Sydney, Australia, and Andrew Rambaut, University of Edinburgh, UK. "Preventing future pandemics requires the political will to cut off the routes by which these viruses enter the human population. Focusing in the wrong direction will preclude those efforts from occurring."

The experts laid out the evidence. Learn more in an interview with Goldstein.

...

Maps pinpointing geographic locations of the first wave of COVID-19 cases in December 2019, show they initially emerged close to the site of the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, as well as other markets reported to have live animal trading. In the weeks following, cases radiated outward geographically. Those cases were followed by excessive deaths in January 2020, a second marker of how the virus spread through the population. Similarly, those deaths were initially localized to near the animal markets.

more ...

[highplainsdem]

1. I remember first hearing about this a few weeks ago. Hope it gets lots of media

attention, though it probably won't get any on RW media.

[EYESORE 9001]

2. Much easier to blame Gyna (that's MAGAt for 'China,' BTW)

Never allow the truth to interfere with a paranoid, xenophobic trope.

[zuul]

3. The media is still having a war-gasm over Afghanistan.

They didn't give a crap about Afghanistan for the last 10 years and now they won't shut up about it. I refuse to watch until they stop this garbage reporting about President Biden's "failures."

[OhZone]

4. It got around the world pretty fast - some even before Wuhan it seems.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't simultaneous animal-human sources, maybe with less communicable versions of the virus.

In Italy, Dec 18.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53106444

In Italy, "as early as September 2019", about 3 months before Wuhan.
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20201115/covid_19_circulated_in_italy_earlier_than_thought

Spain claims March, 2019, nine months before Wuhan.
Coronavirus traces found in March 2019 sewage sample, Spanish study shows
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-spain-science-idUSKBN23X2HQ

Brazil says sewage samples indicate November, 2019, a month before Wuhan
‘Earlier signs of coronavirus’ in sewage samples in Brazil
Brazilian researchers say they found evidence of the pathogen in waste water in November, 91 days before the first case was detected in the country
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3091757/earlier-signs-coronavirus-sewage-samples-brazil

And, then there are all those anecdotal claims that peeps in America had it before it was officially identified.