Coronavirus evolved in nature, not in a lab

This year, one of the great events in biology takes place: the emergence of the 17-year cicadas. These remarkable creatures have managed to avoid extinction by creating an event every 17 years in the Northeast and every 13 years in the South. Their behavior has evolved perfectly to avoid the crushing impact of advancing and retreating glaciers and predators over millions of years.

What does this have to with the emergence of the novel coronavirus, SARSCoV-2? As I listened this week to Robert Redfield, the former director of the CDC, tell CNN correspondent Sanjay Gupta that, in his opinion, SARS-Cov-2 came from a laboratory in China, the association became clear. His reasoning was that because the virus was so capable of infecting people, it must have originated in a laboratory in China. He believes well-intentioned researchers may have selected out strains that are easier to cultivate for their research, and in this sense designed the deadly SARSCoV-2 that made its way into the general population, even if accidentally. Based on that reasoning, the 17-year cicadas must also have been designed in a laboratory somewhere on Earth.

This is Homo sapien hubris at its worst. In fact, nature is a much more talented biological engineer.

Of all the science that is available about the origin of SARS-Cov-2, that it originated in a laboratory or was a laboratory accident is the least likely explanation. The data is overwhelming that the SARS-Cov-2 originated in bats and acquired the spike protein in a recombinant event in the pangolin, a scaly anteater that some cultures like to use as a medicinal. Once it was able to be transmitted to other humans, the virus was off to the races replicating, mutating and constantly improving its ability to infect a new person. This was done through a process of selection, not human design.

And there is more evidence. There are many, many more coronaviruses in bats living in caves that might be future infectious agents in humans. We know these viruses have the ability to move from bat to human because studies have shown people living near horseshoe bat caves have antibodies to bat coronaviruses. In other words, they were infected and handled the virus but did not infect others. It took two viruses exchanging parts in another species to allow it to move from person to person. And one of the most important mutations that was acquired after human to human transmission was the one that allows the virus to enter cells in the upper respiratory track more easily and probably accounts for the asymptomatic spread of the virus.

Why does it matter?

If we believe that SARS-Cov-2 is the result of a laboratory accident, then the solutions to prevent this from happening again are inspection of labs, enhanced national security measures and open access to monitoring viral inventories — none of which will protect us from the most likely causes of the next pandemic.

And this is not an excuse for China. I agree that China was the origin of the virus and that the Chinese government suppressed the evidence early on in an attempt to control it before anyone found out. And that is why the World Health Organization must have the authority to act independently in all member countries.

By clinging to the notion that it was a laboratory creation or laboratory accident, it puts humans, not nature, in charge of these events. It is human supremacy in a world where we are just another species on a planet with a lot of competing biologies that could wipe out our species.

If we can realize the real threat is nature and viruses, and not a laboratory accident or political enemies, we will be in a position to do what is needed to be prepared for the next pandemic.

We need the WHO empowered, not denigrated. We need active and aggressive viral surveillance, viral sequencing and study of animal reservoirs. We need ongoing and well- funded vaccine development and distribution networks. We need a revised public health infrastructure and data tracking program. And we need vaccine diplomacy and cooperation between scientists from all countries because this is an entire planet problem not an American problem.