New Research into COVID-19’s Origins Emerges

A big start to Thanksgiving week: A deep dive into new research contending that the COVID-19 pandemic can be traced back to raccoon dogs sold at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China; Peng Shuai appears in Beijing, but there’s no answer as to whether she’s being coerced; and how little we know, so far, about the horrific vehicle rampage in Waukesha, Wis.

Who Was COVID-19’s Patient Zero in Wuhan, China?

On Thursday, the New York Times reported that, “First Known Covid Case Was Vendor at Wuhan Market, Scientist Says”:

The scientist, Michael Worobey, a leading expert in tracing the evolution of viruses at the University of Arizona, came upon timeline discrepancies by combing through what had already been made public in medical journals, as well as video interviews in a Chinese news outlet with people believed to have the first two documented infections.

Dr. Worobey argues that the vendor’s ties to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, as well as a new analysis of the earliest hospitalized patients’ connections to the market, strongly suggest that the pandemic began there.

“In this city of 11 million people, half of the early cases are linked to a place that’s the size of a soccer field,” Dr. Worobey said. “It becomes very difficult to explain that pattern if the outbreak didn’t start at the market.”