Slack / Private Message Drop — page 45

part of the Feliformia suborder or under separate groupings continues to evolve. [2020-05-28 17:25:00] [Eddie Holmes] What do you make of this - George Gao now saying they tested animals at the market: https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1189506.shtml [2020-05-28 17:29:40] [Kristian Andersen] Interesting. I'm not sure where he has this from "The novel coronavirus had existed long before", but other than that, seems plausible - I don't really think we have any good reason to believe that all of this started in the seafood market (it could very likely just have been a super spreading event). WSJ also had an article yesterday about it, but I can't read it since I don't have access: https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-rules-out-animal-market-and-lab-as-coronaviru s-origin-11590517508?redirect=amp#click=https://t.co/yqDYsxwOq0 [2020-05-28 17:39:57] [Eddie Holmes] I dunno...it is a still a huge coincidence that it happened in the place with all the animals....I've just emailed George to ask for more details about the animal sampling. Doubt he'll reply. [2020-05-28 17:47:06] [Kristian Andersen] That's true - but presumably a lot of wildlife traders must also have been there who could have brought the virus to the market? As far as I'm concerned, the whole thing could have started with a single individual there and then it just amplifies over time as more and more traders get infected. [2020-05-28 17:56:39] [Eddie Holmes] I agree. [2020-05-29 01:22:21] [Andrew Rambaut] There is probably ascertainment bias here. It could just be a workplace cluster but animal markets were a flag that got it noticed. On the other hand it could be a live animal source (i.e. a farm or breeder) had an outbreak and was continually feeding animals in over the course of weeks possibly to multiple city locations. Lots of possibilities that could explain the observations without having to posit a hidden older epidemic or a nefarious source. Certainly the supposed oldest cases being not linked to the market doesn't mean much. [2020-05-29 02:53:31] [Eddie Holmes] True. Will be interesting to see what George and his team come up with. [2020-05-29 06:59:33] [Robert Garry] Heres the WSJ article [shared file(s): China Rules Out Animal Market and Lab as Coronavirus Origin - WSJ.pdf] [2020-05-29 09:46:47] [Robert Garry] I agree with all of this discussion - the market is either a critical clue or a red herring. Agree with KGA that "could very likely just have been a super spreading event." Very good to at least have the fact from GG that animals were tested and were negative. [2020-05-29 13:02:45] [Kristian Andersen] Haven't had time to read this yet, but not quite understanding why I'm not seeing Eddie's name on this... https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/05/28/sciadv.abb9153