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by Throwawayaerlei 1845 days ago
Good question; I would guess that like SARS and MERS, whichever viruses they picked up, assuming that's what happened, didn't transmit well.

That's one of the independent vectors the author mentions that makes so many of us suspect very specifically a lab leak of a gain of function experiment: the virus started out very well adapted to humans.
1 comments
peter422 1845 days ago
A lot of emerging viruses are well adapted to humans… that’s why become outbreaks. How can you judge what level of adaption is expected vs unexpected in a virus.

Most virologists say the way this virus works is unlike anything they’ve seen or expected so they can’t imagine how a human would have engineered it. Why do you think your feeling about the virus’s level of adaptation trumps the experts opinions?

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ButtSpark69 1845 days ago
"A lot of emerging viruses are well adapted to humans…"

This is literally not true.

Most virologists say the way this virus works is unlike anything they’ve seen or expected so they can’t imagine how a human would have engineered it. Why do you think your feeling about the virus’s level of adaptation trumps the experts opinions?

1) Citation on "most" please. The world is a big place, so you will be able to find a citation for any opinion. If you are going to say "most" then please back it up with a source.

2) gain-of-function research doesn't require a human to engineer a new virus. It is a way to essentially speed up evolution and allow nature to do the heavy lifting. You're arguing points that no on here is making.

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Throwawayaerlei 1845 days ago
How can you judge what level of adaption is expected vs unexpected in a virus.

It's a long article so I don't expect you to find the argument in it; it highlights the work of Alina Chan who compared a fast mutation rate of SARS-CoV as it better adapted itself to human to SARS-CoV-2. Here are titles of three of them I've saved but not read, May through September of last year:

SARS-CoV-2 is well adapted for humans. What does this mean for re-emergence?

Single source of pangolin CoVs with a near identical Spike RBD to SARS-CoV-2

COVID-19 CG: Tracking SARS-CoV-2 mutations by locations and dates of interest

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