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johnforbes will be relieved to learn that the COVID 19 pandemic was likely NOT the result of a lab accident.

"An animal market in China's Wuhan really was the epicenter of the Covid pandemic, according to a pair of new studies in the journal Science published Tuesday that claimed to have tipped the balance in the debate about the virus' origins. Answering the question of whether the disease spilled over naturally from animals to humans, or was the result of a lab accident, is viewed as vital to averting the next pandemic and saving millions of lives.

The first paper analyzed the geographic pattern of Covid cases in the outbreak's first month, December 2019, showing the first cases were tightly clustered around the Huanan Market. The second examined genomic data from the earliest cases to study the virus' early evolution, concluding it was unlikely the coronavirus circulated widely in humans prior to November 2019.

Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona, who co-authored both papers, had previously called on the scientific community in a letter to be more open to the idea that the virus was the result of a lab leak. But the findings moved him "to the point where now I also think it's just not plausible that this virus was introduced any other way than through the wildlife trade at the Wuhan market," he told reporters on a call about the findings.


The tightly confined early cases contrasted with how it radiated throughout the rest of the city by January and February, which the researchers confirmed by drilling into social media check-in data from the Weibo app. "This tells us the virus was not circulating cryptically," Worobey said in a statement. "It really originated at that market and spread out from there."

The second study focused on resolving an apparent discrepancy in the virus' early evolution.

Two lineages, A and B, marked the early pandemic. But while A was closer to the virus found in bats, suggesting the coronavirus in humans came from this source and that A gave rise to B, it was B that was found to be far more present around the market.

The researchers used a technique called "molecular clock analysis," which relies on the rate at which genetic mutations occur over time to reconstruct a timeline of evolution -- and found it unlikely that A gave rise to B. "Otherwise, lineage A would have had to have been evolving in slow motion compared to the lineage B virus, which just doesn't make biological sense," said Worobey.

Instead, the probable scenario was both jumped from animals at the market to humans on separate occasions, in November and December 2019. The researchers concluded it was unlikely that there was human circulation prior to November 2019.

"Have we disproven the lab leak theory? No, we have not. Will we ever be able to know? No," said co-author Kristian Anderson of The Scripps Research Institute. "But I think what's really important here is that there are possible scenarios and there are plausible scenarios and it's really important to understand that possible does not mean equally likely."-Agence France-Presse (AFP) [a leading global news agency]

Follow the science, johnny.

Nonsense.

The Wuhan wet market theory, like the vacationing bat notion, was a diversion from the high-level lab which alas was partly funded by Fauci giving grants to Daszak who sent them to the bat lady.

johnny, I told you, follow the science, not your unsupported partisan conspiracy theory websites run by your handlers.

When you can scientifically dispute the genetic evidence, then you can call it nonsense.

Until then, something is not "nonsense" just because you lack the education to understand it.

Following the science means following science.

The Wuhan wet market theory, or the notion that vacationing bats might have spread covid as they went on holiday to work on their tans....these were not science but anti-science.

The Wuhan lab, which was sadly partly funded by US dollars, was the main, logical, obvious, scientific place to look for a leak.

And, if there was no leak, why -- pray tell -- was the HVAC system replaced in Wuhan just after this all got out?

johnny, even the guy who initially told you that a lab accident was a likely scenario changed his mind once he looked at the science.

You, as always, have not looked at the science yet cling to your partisan conspiracy theories despite all evidence to the contrary.

That just makes you a useful idiot.

Actually below you can see one of the gals who looked objectively at this all along and noted the obvious hypothesis was a leak from the Wuhan lab which Fauci lied about partially funding:

https://www.indiatimes.com/technology/s ... 56872.html

johnny, your article is seven months old. And that guy looked at it objectively all along as well.

My article is a day or two old.

Science has learned a lot in those seven months while you were sleeping, obviously.

You haven't learned a thing in that time, obviously.

Try to keep up, Dishonestjohn.


"Follow the science" means follow the CURRENT science, dummy, not your outdated partisan propaganda.

If memory serves, Clowntroller made the sexist and racist statement, and I merely employed my shining virtue to note that an asian babe was perhaps the main postdoctoral researcher noting that the lab leak theory was all along the most rational hypothesis.

It is true that the "Bat Lady" doctor sported a black leather garterbelt during all of her crucial research, but let's not divert this valuable line of discussion.