As usual, a fear-mongering tweet devoid of context from the Post. This is almost entirely a result of a dramatic lack of bat coronavirus sequencing effort in most parts of the world. It's not a new virus; we just haven't looked for them much yet.
https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1386424206729023489
Not to mention the fact that the virus is likely not any danger to humans.
From the paper, the virus "is unlikely to be zoonotic" -- meaning jump from animals to humans -- "without mutation."
But hey, get them clicks!
From the paper, the virus "is unlikely to be zoonotic" -- meaning jump from animals to humans -- "without mutation."
But hey, get them clicks!
What the study really says is that far more resources should probably be designated for better understanding of bat coronaviruses, as well as for bat conservation.
(also it's a preprint and hasn't been peer reviewed but I guess that's a like a third-order complaint at this point)
The overall context is that -- and this is not meant to be scary -- there are likely *thousands* of coronaviruses hosted in bats, and almost all of them are not yet known/sequenced. Pick a bat, any bat, anywhere, and you're likely to find some coronaviruses.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
