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A comment on Wuhan hospital traffic, search engine data indicate virus activity in Fall 2019. Parent comment

Re:Wuhan hospital traffic, search engine data indicate virus... by hef19898 on Monday June 08, 2020 @04:54PM (#23460681)
As interesting as this is, but my understanding was that the genetic evolution / development of the virus can be used to determine when it started spreading. Or jumped from animal to human.

Or did I understand that wrong? Not saying this study is wrong (no way for me to tell), it just seems a very indirect, and thus error prone, way to look at it.

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Re:Wuhan hospital traffic, search engine data indicate virus... by mellosouls on Monday June 08, 2020 @05:44PM (#23461144)
I've asked that question as a separate thread above, I think its an important one, at least for lay people like me.

There is a suggested reason for the discrepancy (Chinese dishonesty about timelines) tho not an answer (yet) from the researchers who've commented elsewhere here or others with a strictly scientific explanation.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23460742

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