In recent months, consideration of the so-called lab leak hypothesis has seemingly gained momentum By Jessica McDonald •
NBC Universal, Inc.
A year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic and with a death toll approaching 4 million lives how the coronavirus came to spark a global scourge remains unknown. Was it the result of a spillover from an animal to a human, as has happened repeatedly in the past? Or did the virus accidentally escape from a nearby lab in Wuhan?
The default answer for most scientists has been that the virus, SARS-CoV-2, probably made the jump to humans from bats, if it was a direct spillover or, more likely, through one or more intermediate mammals. That’s what happened with the coronaviruses responsible for SARS and MERS, and such zoonotic events are standard fare for emerging pathogens.
Where Did COVID-19 Start? The Facts and Mysteries of Its Origin
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The Facts – and Gaps – on the Origin of the Coronavirus
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Many business sectors were battered by the coronavirus pandemic, but there is broad agreement that hospitality was hardest hit and that low wage workers sustained some of the biggest blows. In February 2020, for instance, restaurant worker hours were up 2 percent over a previously strong period the year before; two months later those hours were cut by more than half.
While hours and wages have recovered somewhat, the industry remains hobbled by rules that most other businesses including airlines and retail stores have not had to face. The reasons point to a sadly unfortunate reality that never changed: indoor dining, by nature of its actual existence, helped spread the virus.
Credit: Joe Tomoleoni
Heart disease is a killer threat for southern sea otters feasting on domoic acid in their food web, according to a study led by the University of California, Davis.
Harmful Algae, examined the relationship between long-term exposure to domoic acid and fatal heart disease in southern sea otters, a threatened marine mammal. Sea otters are an amazing indicator of what s happening in the coastal environment, not just to other marine animals, but to us, too, especially on the issue of domoic acid, said Christine K. Johnson, director of the EpiCenter for Disease Dynamics in the One Health Institute at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and senior author of the study.