American researchers finally mapped hundreds of the earliest cases. An early proponent of the lab-leak theory was involved, but then had to admit recognizing t

American researchers finally mapped hundreds of the earliest cases. An early proponent of the lab-leak theory was involved, but then had to admit recognizing that "clustering is very, very specifically in the parts of the market" where they now know people were selling wildlife, such as raccoon dogs, that are susceptible to infection with the coronavirus. https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-china-pandemics-bcbe39293f5c041f82665f55c39062c1 https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-china-pandem... That's multiple clusters in stalls at the market. Even with cases with no known link to the market, still "There was this extraordinary pattern where the highest density of cases was both extremely near to and very centered on this market." Also, there's the fact that two different strains appeared in humans. Besides the existence of multiple strains, they were also different enough that the virologist (in this ABC article) says it proves that mutation had to have already been ongoing in animal populations, "and it's mutated amongst them before it jumped to humans."