In September 2021, as the debate raged over whether the COVID-19 pandemic was sparked by infected animals at a food market in Wuhan, China, or a leak from a nearby lab, an anonymous post on the Chinese social medium WeChat floated a completely different, bizarre theory: SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, had arrived in the country on frozen lobsters from Maine that were sold at the Wuhan market. The post was quickly dismissed by scientists and some considered it part of a Chinese effort to shift blame.

Evolutionary biologist Florence Débarre of CNRS, France’s national research agency, who firmly believes SARS-CoV-2 jumped into people from live animals at the market, calls the WeChat post “extremely elaborate disinformation.” But when she recently translated the post and compared the detailed maps of the market it contains with other, official ones, Débarre found surprises. The maps identify specific stalls as having live animals infected with SARS-CoV-2 and vendors with antibodies to the virus – data China has never shared.

Débarre finds the unconfirmed data credible because other details on the maps have been verified since they were posted. Débarre made her analysis public after sharing it with several colleagues and with Science.

Source https://www.science.org/content/article/forgotten-social-media-post-may-hold-key-clues-covid-19-s-origin

Another high-profile case has interested scientists. Read now