The "The Raccoon Dog At The Wuham Market May Give Us The Answer!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading my local Saturday, March 18, 2023 LNP LANCASTER, PA morning newspaper when I came across a very interesting story that at first I didn't understand exactly what I was reading.  That was until it hit me!  The newspaper story date was Saturday, March 18,  2023, so you see it was rather current news.  The headline on the story read: "WHO wants China raccoon dog genetic data."  The story had to do with genetic data that may help discern the origins of COVID-19 after it appeared briefly on an international database.  I had to go back and read the story three times before it actually hit me that the story was telling me that the origins of COVID-19 may have been discovered.  A new analysis of specimens collected in January 2020 at a wet market in Wuhan, China where the initial human infections we're detected found evidence of the virus along with large amounts of genetic material from raccoon dogs, according to a group of scientists spanning the U.S.A and Europe.  What had I just read?  I read it over and over again and finally continued reading the rest of the story.  Seems underlying data from Chinese researchers, which some outside experts said bolstered the idea that the virus spilled over from animals at the market, was subsequently removed.  This data should have immediately been shared three years ago accordingly to WHO Director-General Teros Adhanom Ghegreyetus.  WHO's top epidemiologist on COVID-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, said that the data could have and should have been shared three years ago!  Researchers around the world say that the virus may have originated in animals and then spread to humans or perhaps leaked from a high security lab that worked with similar pathogens in Wuhan.  China has resisted efforts to investigate the pandemic's origins, and the data may undercut its arguments that the virus was imported from another country.  Seems that nothing can be ruled out.  Recently a biologist at the French Centre for Scientific Research stumbled upon genomic data that was posted to GISAID, a global scientific consortium that maintains a database of coronavirus sequences.  She reached out to a group of scientists who had authored papers supporting the hypothesis that COVID-19 originated at a market in Wuhan.  The scientists analyzed data from the samples and were stunned by the results.  It was the first time they were able to identify a genetic fingerprint of the virus and a potential intermediate host in the exact same place.  The mingling of DNA from the virus and from raccoon dogs is a strong indication that the mammals, reportedly sold live in the food market and known to be susceptible to coronaviruses, were infected.  "It's not the 'eureka' moment, but it's a pretty big advance.  The material was collected in an area of the market where cases were known to have occurred.  It still doesn't tell us how did it get into a raccoon dog, or how did it get into a human, but it's important circumstantial evidence.  The story went on to say that the data is expected to be published soon.  The latest finding advances efforts to decipher the deadly contagion's creation story.  Will it show that COVID originated in a Chinese lab?  Data that was collected did show that raccoon dogs were in the Wuhan market.  Conclusions are to be made by the scientists working on the project.  Studies to understand how, where and when COVID-19 emerged have stalled, but may now have to be researched a bit more for answers.  Here's hoping an answer can finally be found.  So, what do you think?  I find it extremely interesting!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.