A cute, dog-like animal has emerged as the chief culprit for the first transmission of the COVID virus to humans, thanks to newly revealed genetic evidence from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China. Based on these new facts, common raccoon dogs, a species that resembles a fox-raccoon hybrid, may be the "patient zero" that triggered the global public health disaster we're still suffering through.
An exclusive report from Katherine Wu at The Atlantic presents the strongest evidence to date that SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the brutal pandemic now entering its fourth year, first appeared in animals before jumping to humans. The genetic evidence pushes back against the narrative that the pathogen was accidentally or intentionally leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
