Re: Virus thread, the political one.
Not sure where this should go. Lab-associated theory gaining traction in mainstream media
US explores possibility that coronavirus spread started in Chinese lab, not a market - CNNPolitics
It's been gradual. Earlier pieces quietly reported the growing controversy over the wet market theory.
How did coronavirus break out? Theories abound as researchers race to solve genetic detective story - CNN
"If you bring wild animals -- you catch them in the wild, you bring them together in large numbers," he said. "They're stressed and then they can become virus factories, and they're in close contact with human beings in the markets and they're butchered in the markets, and by people in relatively unhygienic conditions."
But an article in Lancet has cast some doubt on the theory. The study shows that about a third of the first 41 confirmed infected patients had no direct exposure to the wet market. Among them was the first known patient, whose symptoms reportedly began appearing December 1.
"No epidemiological link was found between the first patient and later cases," the report states.
The market was shuttered January 1, two days after the Wuhan authorities issued a public health alert about it.
No conspiracies here but a counterpoint to the accepted narrative.
Coronavirus may have been in California earlier than thought - Los Angeles Times
“The virus was freewheeling in our community and probably has been here for quite some time,” Dr. Jeff Smith, a physician who is the chief executive of Santa Clara County government, told county leaders in a recent briefing.
How long? A study out of Stanford suggests a dramatic viral surge in February.
But Smith on Friday said data collected by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, local health departments and others suggest it was “a lot longer than we first believed” — most likely since “back in December.”
“This wasn’t recognized because we were having a severe flu season,” Smith said in an interview. “Symptoms are very much like the flu. If you got a mild case of COVID, you didn’t really notice. You didn’t even go to the doctor. The doctor maybe didn’t even do it because they presumed it was the flu.”
NOTE: Moderator (J. Ake) - moved from Covid 19 political forum to Covid19 forum for discussion/examination.