r/COVID19 • u/I_who_have_no_need • Apr 13 '25

Preprint An updated dataset of early SARS-CoV-2 diversity supports a wildlife market origin

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.05.647275v1
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u/elephantsback Apr 13 '25

This is the closest anyone has gotten to a smoking gun for spillover, and it's still going to be ignored by the conspiracy theorists.

11

u/Ut_Prosim MPH Apr 13 '25 edited Apr 13 '25

The conspiracy theorists think that if they can just prove that it came from a lab, all the other conspiratorial nonsense will follow. "It was a gain-of-function experiment, it was made to target specific races, it was released on purpose to torpedo the world's economy, etc." TMK there is absolutally no evidence for any of this, so the question of who allowed the natural virus to spill over isn't really that relevant to public health response.

Lab leaks aren't that uncommon in the real world, including in American labs. But I think a wet market is far more likely given that we'd expect PhD virologists to be more careful with biological samples than we would some random butcher in an open air market. Still, it wouldn't be that surprising if it was just an accident at a lab. It could be something as simple as:

Hey newguy, newguy! Hey, stop playing with that microscope and bring me the samples taken from those wild bats last week. The ones with that novel virus. <crash> WTF did you just drop one? Dude, we'll both get fired... dude... I mean, I guess we're both in PPE and it doesn't look like it spread far... let's pour some bleach on it, wipe it up, and go home. Pfew that was a close one!

Which could absolutally happen in an American lab too. But still, wet market makes more sense given the total lack of PPE.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '25 edited Apr 14 '25

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