Thread by @Ayjchan

By these standards set by some virologists, there seems to be no strong evidence of a natural #OriginOfCovid and likely no way to ever prove that the virus came to people through the wildlife trade instead of research activities.

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mB…

If you turn it around, then even if wild animals infected with the direct ancestor or close siblings of the pandemic virus were found, that would only strengthen but not prove a natural #OriginOfCovid since the Wuhan outbreak could still have been sparked by research activity.

I'm not sure what these virologists believe can be found. A video recording of scientists in Wuhan spilling a tube labeled pandemic virus, said researchers developing symptoms & the chain of transmissions leading to a superspreader event at the market - all caught on camera?

Or a video recording of bats infecting animals that are later trafficked into Wuhan, those animals then infecting vendors who then infect others at the market - all caught on camera?

In this case, no pandemic has ever been proven to have a natural origin.

One's bias is clear if they are starting from a point where a natural #OriginOfCovid is assumed despite the striking lack of evidence (eg infected animals) but a lab origin cannot be proven even with evidence at the level of "the virus was studied in a lab before the outbreak".