I am flip livid furious at us — meaning human beings. The coronavirus (covid 19) we’re fighting now is not the fault of bats or pangolins or civit cats, or China, or some nefarious James Bond-style criminal lab. Or any other place where people are throwing blame.
The virus is our fault. Ours. Human.
Like other situations where a new disease has arisen and transferred into human beings, we were the ones that marched into the forest to catch and eat wildlife. We are the ones that put both live and dead wildlife next to each other in the market (not just in China, in many places). We create the situations that cause these viruses to develop. And then go “WTF?!” when they “suddenly” occur.
Stop wondering why this happened or looking for someone to blame. We did this. We do not respect our environment. We think we can do anything without consequences in the natural world.
Whatever you choose to believe, the fact is that Covid came from eating a wild animal directly or a ‘wet market’ – markets where live animals are sold, often right next to dead ones. Unsanitary is one of the better things you can say about these places. The Covid-19 virus ‘appeared’, either from a new strain of disease in a wild animal that was caught and brought to the wet market, or when a virus from one species had its DNA naturally ‘recombined’ with one from another species within the wet market.
And if you still think this was caused by China, bear in mind that the United States has wet markets too. There are fewer wild animals here, but disease transmission is still easily possible here. And it doesn’t just happen in wild animals. Domestic animals can be part of the development of diseases (pigs are a great incubator for this type of occurrence, often for flu). Virologists have been warning for decades now that our systems of factory farming are likely to cause disease outbreaks. Unless curtailed, the next global pandemic could well start within our own borders.
Additional risks come from wildlife trade — wildlife trade that is just for deceased wildlife exists all over the world and the U.S. is one of the biggest importers of (often poached) wildlife. Some wildlife trade (though far from enough) is currently illegal. So importers strive to evade customs. The result is that we have little knowledge or control of what animals are coming in and the diseases they may contain. Ebola came into the human population by eating a wild animal. Suppose an animal from Africa was brought here… And they are brought here all the time.
The only solution is to have ‘Wet markets’ and wildlife trade in general be heavily regulated or stopped all over the world. Instead, the US has just loosened controls on trafficking into the US — courtesy of the Trump administration.
I am terrified of what may be brought in next.