[clnq]

One possible reason for delayed virus detection in the West is our sluggish response to identifying new strains (in some of our largest countries, not all). But I think the emergence and spread of serious viral infections is largely influenced by population density, rather than geographical location. And the population density in China has gone up a lot in about the last decade, making more serious transmissible diseases come out of China recently.

When Covid's first wave saw exponential infection growth, statistics and graphs demonstrated striking similarities among urban areas worldwide. In contrast, rural regions consistently exhibited lower infection rates throughout the pandemic.

To illustrate this with a personal anecdote, I know someone who lives in a tiny village on a ranch (population: ~30), and they have reported seeing zero Covid cases, having interacted with around 50 other people over the last four years. I think this underscores the role of population density in virus transmission.

[prewett]

People in China also interact more closely with animals, and with a wider variety, than in the West. The West does not have any wet markets or nor the wide variety of species available for consumption. This helps in the virus jumping species. Once it jumps, the population density helps it spread.

[sgent]

Ever been to a county fair?

[prewett]

Once or twice, although it wasn't a major sort of fair. There were a lot of animals, and now that I think about it, quite a wide variety of chickens. But it's only a few weeks out of the year, and in summer. And not very much blood. (Don't know if blood makes a difference in this case, though) I'm still a little shocked by the (large) fish gills I saw hanging up on a wall in a market in Hong Kong some years ago, looked like it was still breathing.