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I have been wondering why it is considered to have originated in Wuhan rather than Wuhan simply being the first major outbreak where it was identified as a nove
by jfoster 6y ago
I have been wondering why it is considered to have originated in Wuhan rather than Wuhan simply being the first major outbreak where it was identified as a novel coronavirus. Is it always the case that hospitals will be capable of identifying a new type of virus based on some patients who look like they have the flu?
One thing that's known about covid-19 is that it has an unusual spread pattern. In some circumstances it might not spread too much (eg. average R0 is well less than 10) but in other circumstances where air is recirculating a lot or a particular patient is very contagious, it seems to spread a lot more. Couple that with many people being asymptomatic. So, what if it had been spreading in many places but Wuhan was simply the first place where it was detected? It seems to be capable of spreading without being detected for quite a while in many other parts of the world. (eg. Singapore's foreign worker dormitories)
- shawabawa3 6y agoI believe DNA studies have linked the origin to bats in the area of wuhan
- bb2018 6y agoThat isn't true. The bats that it mostly likely come from are in China - but in Southern China about 1000 miles from Wuhan.
- pnako 6y agoIn Wuhan is the lab that was researching the virus from those bats.
- redis_mlc 6y agoAlmost correct. The "lab" was actually doing corona virus research, and funded by the US govt. Corona is so contagious, that combined with Wuhan being an international airport that connects to Shanghai, the #8 international airport in the world, this was the perfect storm for a pandemic.
- gamblor956 6y agoIf by "funded by the US govt" you mean funded primarily by the Chinese government, with additional funding provided by the US and EU, due to the nature of the lab's work... https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52318539 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52318539
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- drran 6y agoIn Russia, virus lab had major incident at Sep 16 2019. Paint job caused blast and fire, so responders come in to fight fire and STOLE SOME EQUIPMENT FROM LEVEL 4 VIRUS LAB, which was caught on video here: https://youtu.be/_w7SAeNcXA8?t=63 https://youtu.be/_w7SAeNcXA8?t=63 (look at man in uniform in background).
- fludlight 6y agoWhat species? What is their range? Do they migrate?