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Comment by Joshua I. Levy

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Postdoctoral researcher in Kristian Andersen's lab at Scripps Research; coauthor of studies on SARS-CoV-2 origins
There has been broad agreement that the Huanan market was a place where early spread of the virus was amplified, but what our data show is that the market was also the early epicenter and very likely the place of emergence.
AI Verified (Jul 26, 2022)
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Joshua Levy, quoted in Scripps Research, "Pair of studies illuminates COVID-19 pandemic origins," July 26, 2022.
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The clustering of early cases around the Huanan market reflects where the COVID-19 virus emerged, not just where testing looked
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AI Verified Relevant: in the source context, Levy is discussing researchers’ analysis of the geographic clustering of the earliest Wuhan cases, and he explicitly says the market was not merely a site of amplified early spread but "also the early epicenter and very likely the place of emergence." That directly bears on whether the clustering indicates true emergence rather than just where authorities happened to detect cases. ([scripps.edu](https://www.scripps.edu/news-and-events/press-room/2022/20220726-andersen-covid.html)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 1h ago
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AI Verified Levy explicitly goes beyond saying the market merely amplified spread: he says it was "also the early epicenter" and "very likely the place of emergence." In the source context, that conclusion is tied to the finding that the earliest cases clustered around the Huanan market, so this supports the statement that the clustering reflects emergence, not just where investigators were looking. ([scripps.edu](https://www.scripps.edu/news-and-events/press-room/2022/20220726-andersen-covid.html)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 1h ago

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AI Verified The Scripps Research page at the provided URL, dated July 26, 2022, contains the exact quoted sentence verbatim and attributes it to “co-author Joshua Levy, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the Andersen lab.” Independent reposts of the same press release also preserve the same wording, and PubMed records for the underlying paper identify the same researcher by the fuller name Joshua I. Levy, so the attribution is consistent. ([scripps.edu](https://www.scripps.edu/news-and-events/press-room/2022/20220726-andersen-covid.html)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 1h ago
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