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mukenwalla t1_jch0lrp wrote

Reply to comment by DearSurround8 in [OC] More Americans are believing COVID-19 originated from a lab in China. However, there is still no conclusive evidence to support one theory over another. The topic is highly politicizing both internally (US Political Parties) and externally (US-China relations). by Square_Tea4916

I wouldn't say "extremely unlikely random combination of viruses leading to a pandemic" considering that is exactly what happened a few years prior with the SARS-CoV-1 virus. And we have evidence of it being a spill over event based on early cases surrounding the markets of Wuhan. The truth is we don't know right now what the origin was.

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DearSurround8 t1_jchdc19 wrote

The evidence of the SARS-CoV-1 spillover is still around. You can still find the precursor virus in specific bat populations. There is also an evidence trail for the spillover of MERS. The same type of evidence trail does not exist for SARS-CoV-2. We do not know the original host animal. We still have not found the precursor virus(s).

I know that the absence of evidence does not prove anything, but in this case the absence of evidence is conspicuous. Either it wasn't a spillover event, or our entire understanding of spillover events is incorrect. Occam's razor applies here. We have hunted extensively for the origins SARS-CoV-2, in every way allowed by the Chinese government, and still have not found conclusive evidence of a spillover. I find the lab leak hypothesis to be far more plausible than a complete misunderstanding of how spillover events work in the 21st century.

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mukenwalla t1_jchhb3w wrote

You're not wrong. I hope we get more information about this. The lack of a transparent investigation means wemay never have a full picture.

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