Chairman Paul Letter to DNI Gabbard — page 30

Origins ¢ Earlier Open Market Origin -- Index case was not identified -- most recent common ancestor (27 genomes)--pinpoints early Oct of the outbreak (Kristian Andersen, an evolutionary biologist at the Institute) * People in rural areas, who live or work in near proximity of hibernacula -- infected and traveled to Wuhan (visitors, etc.) -- Transmit the disease to local residents, localized spread........ notice -- Serological evidence of rural exposure settings (Virol Sin. 2018 Feb * Accidental Release -- Institute of Virology (Wuhan) Studies SARS-group 2B bat Coron -- Sequenced 1,000s of SARS-like group 2B bat coronaviruses -- Cultured multiple group 2B bat coronaviruses (pre-epidemic st * Do this work under BSL2 conditions; despite virus use of hACE2 re primary human airway epithelial cells * J Virol 2016 Jul 15; 90(14): 6573-6582 -- They have reported a bat virus that is similar to 2019-nHCovV, w deletions in RBD, not sure when -- They had not specifically reported on any virus like 2019-nHCo