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That doesn't make sense. That virus that's causing the pandemic was the result of two related virus, one from bats and the other from pangolins somehow meeting

That doesn't make sense. That virus that's causing the pandemic was the result of two related virus, one from bats and the other from pangolins somehow meeting each other somewhere in China though a human host, most likely in Wuhan. The only way that could have happened is at a wet market. That is the most likely explanation. It doesn't help that China has a history of being secretive sadly.

dTal 6y ago
>The only way that could have happened is at a wet market That's... a strong statement.
- mrlonglong 6y ago
  Yes. That lab they talked about only had the bat coronavirus. That doesn't normally infect humans so even if there was a leak, it would be traceable though analysis. This would be a different story if they also had the pangolin coronavirus there as well. But they didn't.
  - SlipperySlope 6y ago
    GoF was used to make the bat virus infect humans... Reasoning was to develop vaccines in advance. Duh. "What they were worried about was something called “gain-of-function” research, in which the virulence or transmissibility of dangerous pathogens is deliberately increased. The purpose is to help scientists predict how viruses might evolve in ways that hurt humans before it happens in nature. But by bypassing pathogens’ natural evolutionary cycles, these experiments create risks of a human-made outbreak if a lab accident were to occur. For this reason, the Obama administration issued a moratorium on gain-of-function experiments in October 2014. The Wuhan Institute of Virology had openly participated in gain-of-function research in partnership with U.S. universities and institutions. "
  - brippalcharrid 6y ago
    The PRRA polybasic furin cleavage site somehow managed to get into just the right part of the virus structure so that it was really effective at getting into humans cells (but not at infecting bats, or pangolins for that matter). The closest known relative (itself a major discovery) was somehow forgotten about for the last five or so years, and by the time news of it came to public attention, it just so happened that all of the physical samples of it had been destroyed I'm starting to become bemused at the people are now talking about the lab origin as having been somewhat obvious all along.
thinkingemote 6y ago
As the article explains in a couple of places, China itself has ruled out the wet market origin.

dTal 6y ago

>The only way that could have happened is at a wet market That's... a strong statement.

mrlonglong 6y ago
Yes. That lab they talked about only had the bat coronavirus. That doesn't normally infect humans so even if there was a leak, it would be traceable though analysis. This would be a different story if they also had the pangolin coronavirus there as well. But they didn't.
- SlipperySlope 6y ago
  GoF was used to make the bat virus infect humans... Reasoning was to develop vaccines in advance. Duh. "What they were worried about was something called “gain-of-function” research, in which the virulence or transmissibility of dangerous pathogens is deliberately increased. The purpose is to help scientists predict how viruses might evolve in ways that hurt humans before it happens in nature. But by bypassing pathogens’ natural evolutionary cycles, these experiments create risks of a human-made outbreak if a lab accident were to occur. For this reason, the Obama administration issued a moratorium on gain-of-function experiments in October 2014. The Wuhan Institute of Virology had openly participated in gain-of-function research in partnership with U.S. universities and institutions. "
- brippalcharrid 6y ago
  The PRRA polybasic furin cleavage site somehow managed to get into just the right part of the virus structure so that it was really effective at getting into humans cells (but not at infecting bats, or pangolins for that matter). The closest known relative (itself a major discovery) was somehow forgotten about for the last five or so years, and by the time news of it came to public attention, it just so happened that all of the physical samples of it had been destroyed I'm starting to become bemused at the people are now talking about the lab origin as having been somewhat obvious all along.

thinkingemote 6y ago

As the article explains in a couple of places, China itself has ruled out the wet market origin.