Comment by Gabriel Spitzer

Researchers had found genetic evidence that raccoon dogs, an exotic species known to be susceptible to the virus, were among the animals for sale at the wet market in Wuhan, China, where the outbreak was first identified. Now that research has been updated and published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell. The authors, a team of scientists that includes prominent names such as Michael Worobey and Angela Rasmussen, say the analysis shows with unprecedented granularity — down to the individual market stall — that coronavirus-susceptible wildlife and the SARS CoV-2 virus were mingling, along with human beings, in a very specific part of the Wuhan market. However, the analysis relies on an imperfect set of data gathered by Chinese scientists, which has left this research open to criticism by some researchers — in particular, those who argue a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology is a more likely source of the virus's spread. But the new study frames its conclusions as part of a growing body of data showing that the virus spilled over from wild animals to humans at the market, with multiple lines of evidence that all tell the same story.