[Terr_]

> As far as I know, they've not been able to find the an ancestor of COVID-19 in any natural reservoirs prior to the pandemic.

Careful, this wording implies "if we evolved from apes why are the apes still here" logic.

Actual "ancestors" have all been dead for a bajillion of their generations. All we can hope to find are cousins, outside of some rare time-capsule situation.

[simulate-me]

Ancestors of the COVID-19 haven’t been dead for a million years though. If COVID-19 has natural origins, then the ancestors should still exist in nature and thus should the discoverable. Given that the ancestors must exist somewhat close to humans for transmission to occur, it’s not unreasonable to expect them to be found given the intense amount of resources dedicated to the search.

And again, I was asking for specific evidence of a natural origin. Evolution has plenty of evidence even without living common ancestors between primates and humans.

[Terr_]

> Ancestors of the COVID-19 haven’t been dead for a million years though.

Please read more carefully. I did not say "years". I said "their generations". The average virus generation is very very short.

> If COVID-19 has natural origins, then the ancestors should still exist

Again, you persist in confusing ancestors with relatives.

Insofar a particular viral-particle or sequence can even be considered "alive", they will "die" as a mandatory part of reproduction, kicking off millions of slightly-different descendants.

It's as if you're holding a fresh-caught salmon and insisting that you ought to be able to find its wild ancestors somewhere in the water. No, it doesn't work like that.

> Evolution has plenty of evidence even without living common ancestors between primates and humans.

That is true, but when you say "we should be able to find a living common ancestor", that's idiotic because that means finding AN IMMORTAL CREATURE 4+ MILLION YEARS OLD.