It’s a pay site so I won’t copy it. But the author notes several recent items that are at least helping rule things out. First China has confirmed no animals in the Wuhan wet market tested positive. The closest genetic match in a bat was one found over a thousand miles away from the market in 2013. That bat was in an abandoned mine shaft following an outbreak of a virus that killed three miners that year.

Scientists from an Australia University found that the virus has a higher affinity for human receptors than for any animal species they tested suggesting the virus may have been cultured in human cells as in a lab experiment. So the virus was brought into the market by a human and was amplified in the city. Thus the the real spread began.

The author points out China should likely be more cooperative since the evidence points away from the wildlife markets and Chinese officials are confident it wasn’t a lab escape. Whether they are or not is TBD.

The author also points out joint research at UNC and Wuhan Inst of Virology have been testing SARS like corona viruses for years and in a joint experiment in 2015 expressed caution that such experiments should continue due to the risk of “creating more dangerous pathogens”.

The good news in the article is the very slow evolution of the virus compared to prior corona viruses. This may help with vaccination if the pace of vaccine development stays ahead of any mutations. Good read if you have the WSJ.