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Comment by The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2

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Nature Medicine correspondence article
Although the evidence shows that SARS-CoV-2 is not a purposefully manipulated virus, it is currently impossible to prove or disprove the other theories of its origin described here. However, since we observed all notable SARS-CoV-2 features, including the optimized RBD and polybasic cleavage site, in related coronaviruses in nature, we do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible.
AI Verified (Mar 17, 2020)
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"The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2," Nature Medicine (via PMC)
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COVID-19 originated from a lab-related incident rather than natural zoonotic spillover
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AI Verified Relevant: the quote directly addresses the core origin question and explicitly says the authors do not believe "any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible," which makes a stance against the complete statement substantially more likely than alternatives. ([nature.com](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9?os=f%3Fno_journeys%3Dtrue&utm_source=openai)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 1h ago
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AI Verified The quote says the authors "do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible," which strongly implies opposition to the claim that COVID-19 originated from a lab-related incident; their note that it was "impossible to prove or disprove" other theories only qualifies certainty, not direction. ([pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/7095063/?utm_source=openai)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 59min ago

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AI Verified The quote is authentic and matches the article text verbatim: the conclusion section contains the full passage, and the PMC/Nature records identify the same named article, “The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2,” as published on 17 March 2020 with DOI 10.1038/s41591-020-0820-9. The stored source URL and date are consistent with that record, and using the article title as the named-document author is acceptable here. ([einsteinmed.edu](https://einsteinmed.edu/docs/research/covid-19-collaboratories/proximal-origin-of-sars-cov2.pdf)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 1h ago
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