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by smaryjerry 1802 days ago
What you are describing is just another manipulation of words by media that has caught you and others. Most scientists believe the virus had a lab in origin, and couldn’t have been natural, but whether that is due to a lab leak is completely speculation based on the fact it likely has a lab origin.
2 comments
refenestrator 1802 days ago
You need a cite for that, and some definition of 'scientist' that actually lends credibility.

"Couldn't have been natural" is especially a stretch, given that SARS and Bird Flu manifested naturally in the same part of the world a few years prior.

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pcrh 1802 days ago
No they do not. Most believe it jumped from a wild animal to humans a short while before the outbreak in Wuhan.
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orestarod 1802 days ago
Oh it most likely did jump from animals to humans. Lab outbreak theory does not refer to the virus being artificial, but on that the jump occurred inside the lab due to bad measures and then leaked outside.
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pcrh 1802 days ago
GP referred to the virus being unnatural, whereas there is very strong evidence that it is natural.

As to a natural virus being accidentally leaked from a lab, there's no evidence for that scenario, except for the fact that the first major SARS-CoV2 outbreak happened in the same city. For what it's worth, this is not as implausible a co-incidence as might be claimed, since it is not uncommon for a virology lab to study viruses endemic to the region it is located in.

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inglor_cz 1802 days ago
"For what it's worth, this is not as implausible a co-incidence as might be claimed, since it is not uncommon for a virology lab to study viruses endemic to the region it is located in. "

The bat virus that seems to be the progenitor of SARS-Cov-2 was isolated in caves in a different part of China, quite far from Wuhan. Plus, bats hibernate during the time that the spread began.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-chinas-bat-wo...

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pcrh 1802 days ago
It's estimated that ~50 years passed since the time bat virus (RaTG13) and SARS-CoV2 diverged.

So it's certainly not a recent transmission, which is why an intermediate host is proposed, which could also be bat, or some other host species. Coronaviruses are endemic in that region of China.

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