Originally Posted by
Skeptic Ginger
There is evidence some people were infected with a coronavirus directly from bats. Sherkeu posted that evidence.
So? Maybe those viruses has a spike structure that could efficiently bind to both human and bat ACE2 receptors. There are also Coronaviruses that don’t bind to ACE2 at all. Neither of these would change the fact that neither Covid nor any known close relative can bind efficiently to both human and bat ACE2 receptors.
Originally Posted by
Skeptic Ginger
If it hasn’t been found yet how could it have escaped from a lab?
If Covid’s actual ancestor is circulating in bats and Pangolins in SE Asia rather than Chinese bats that makes it even more likely that it was carried to China by an infected Pangolin and not accidentally released by a lab.
Originally Posted by
Skeptic Ginger
As for recombinant vs genetic drift by mutations, I posted a reference for that as well. Even if it begins with a recombinant event, genetic drift might still have been necessary for the more precise adaptations.
It may be necessary, but this doesn’t mean it MUST be necessary. The Pangolin virus spike binds efficiently to human ACE2 even without further evolution. Newer more virulent strains have evolved as the pandemic has progresses so any required evolution may be occurring right in front of our eyes.
Most importantly how would any of this help the argument that it escaped from a lab? If it needed more evolution it needed it regardless of how the first infections occurred. If it was already highly contagious right after the recombination event it was contagious regardless of how the first infections occurred.