It’s something absolutely nobody is talking about right now, because we are rightly focused on saving lives and mitigating risk. But when this is all said and done—it must be discussed. And because emotions are high now, it’s a good time to remember. Experts widely believe this whole thing started by a single human transmission in a packed live meat market in Wuhan, China. Anyone who has ever been to a live meat, or “wet market”, in certain parts of the world, knows the atrocious and appalling conditions that exist (I once walked near one on my travels, and quickly turned and walked away horrified). If you are brave enough, feel free to YouTube videos or Google Image some of the horrifying spectacles in these markets. Animals, including dogs and bats, packed tightly in cages right next to each other.
Terrible conditions produce terrible diseases—which is something we have known since caveman days. Rodents and humans in close proximity is also never a good idea. This problem has been reported by a number of reputable news outlets including the BBC and NPR, and prominent scientists have repeatedly warned about the risk of zoonosis from these wild meat markets.
The SARS virus epidemic in 2003 is believed to have started exactly the same way. The Chinese authorities promised to clamp down on, and close the markets, at that time. But didn’t. And why should that be a surprise? This is a dictatorship that has repeatedly lied to the international community. When the outbreak first started in Wuhan, authorities harassed and intimidated doctors, barricaded people in their homes, and then repeatedly lied about the numbers of infections. They have now thrown out foreign journalists. The government is not one to be trusted.
Anyone who thinks that this shouldn’t be talked about, out of some misguided sense of political correctness, should really take a long hard look at their own value system. Because the world has quite literally been brought to its knees. And as a doctor too, I get to see the effects of this pandemic every day at the medical frontlines.
This is nothing against the Chinese people. Many of my best friends are from that region of the world, and I am a big fan of many parts of the culture and cuisine. I’m not into racism or labelling an entire population for the actions of a few. I am, however, into saving lives in the future. And being kinder to animals. People and countries staying silent about this is neither an intelligent nor humane response.
The message to the Chinese Government from the international community must be loud and clear: CLOSE THOSE DISGUSTING MARKETS.
It will be a travesty if this isn’t addressed at some stage. Otherwise it’ll just keep happening again and again.
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Agree the markets are atrocious. But the society is under the boot of communist totalitarianism and all of it’s horrors. Millions of Uyghurs are locked in concentration/re-education camps. We really do not know the extent of the horrors against humans currently existing in China.
I’ve read that the virus almost certainly did not originate in one of these meat markets; that was another Chinese lie. It’s a mystery, I believe, how it did, in fact, originate. There is some reasonable speculation that it came from a bio-weapons lab which is well know to exist in Wuhan.
If this Coronavirus-19 might be an HIV-RNA weaponized strain from the Chinese Communist Party, CCP, that escaped from Wuhan labs tragically onto the Chinese people, then we need to consider this the CCP virus CoVid-19 disease. Not “Wu flu”, not Wuhan CoVid-19. More animal and veterinarian research is needed from Wuhan’s wet meat markets to see which animals might be CoVid-19/ CCP 2019 coronavirus carriers, analogous to the palm civet cats and felines who carried SARS-1 coronavirus in Guangzhou. Politics should be replaced by scientific transparency and international cooperation as is occurring quietly among private medical investigators in Asia and the West.
I wonder how many more outbreaks people will suffer before these markets are changed or drastically altered. Just imagine how different things would be right now. I hope that what we’re experiencing now will be used to mold our future for the better.
Agree, those practices are disgusting and inhumane. also possibly part of bio warfare.
I heard about your corrections to England/UK, please don’t be so trusting of BBC. As many people are aware every news outlet is biased and has it’s own agenda, BBC is very anti-India and anti-developing countries, and so is CNN. At the same time, they all are scared to talk about or against China. I have no political party or religious affiliations.
I heard someone say we might be expecting a few more viral illnesses from China, not sure of the reality, but
C-Corona/COVID-19
H-Hunta virus
I-?
N-?
A-?