Top Scientist Says Covid Came From Animals At Wuhan Market, Not Lab
Dr. Michael Worobey, from the University of Arizona, is an expert in tracing viral evolution. In a paper published in Science, he contends the World Health Organization's inquiry into the pandemic origin is wrong, and covid did not come from a lab.
The New York Times:
First Known Covid Case Was Vendor At Wuhan Market, Scientist Says
A scientist who has pored over public accounts of early Covid-19 cases in China reported on Thursday that an influential World Health Organization inquiry had most likely gotten the early chronology of the pandemic wrong. The new analysis suggests that the first known patient sickened with the coronavirus was a vendor in a large Wuhan animal market, not an accountant who lived many miles from it. The report, published on Thursday in the prestigious journal Science, will revive, though certainly not settle, the debate over whether the pandemic started with a spillover from wildlife sold at the market, a leak from a Wuhan virology lab or some other way. The search for the origins of the greatest public health catastrophe in a century has fueled geopolitical battles, with few new facts emerging in recent months to resolve the question. (Zimmer, Mueller and Buckley, 11/18)
The Wall Street Journal:
New Reconstruction Points To Animal Origins For Covid-19
For his analysis, Dr. Worobey, said, “I just trawled through anything I could find,” including the World Health Organization-led team’s report, genomic data, local media reports, and announcements from Chinese officials that had been taken down but stored on an internet archive. He found that 10 of 19 early patients evaluated by doctors at hospitals in Wuhan worked at the Huanan market or had been there. A 41-year-old accountant believed to have become sick Dec. 8—making him officially the first known case—actually was ill from a dental problem then and developed Covid-19 symptoms on Dec. 16 instead, Dr. Worobey wrote. That would mean he could have caught the virus from someone in the broader community, since he didn’t visit the market, Dr. Worobey said. (McKay, 11/18)
The Washington Post:
Leading Scientist Argues First Coronavirus Cases Point To Wuhan Market Origin
Worobey has been open to the theory of a lab leak. He was one of the 18 scientists who wrote a much-publicized letter to Science in May calling for an investigation of all possible sources of the virus, including a laboratory accident. But he now contends that the geographic pattern of early cases strongly supports the hypothesis that the virus came from an infected animal at the Huanan Seafood Market — an argument that will probably revive the broader debate about the virus’s origins.(Achenbach, 11/18)
CBS News:
U.S. Scientist Says He's Found The Real COVID Patient Zero, And "Strong Evidence" Pandemic Started At Animal Market
One criticism of the market theory was that because health authorities raised the alert about cases of a suspicious disease linked to the market as early as December 30, 2019, that would have introduced a bias that led to the identification of more cases there than elsewhere, since attention had already been drawn to it. To counter that argument, Worobey analyzed cases reported by two hospitals before the alert was raised. Those cases were also largely linked to the market, and those which were not were nevertheless geographically concentrated around it. (11/19)
