Somehow it had to make the jump to humans and human to human transmission
Could the fact that it could naturally infect humans not be the reason they were studying it? I mean, we only have circumstantial evidence for a lab leak so it seems like jumping the gun to try and come up with theories on the details anyway.
Maybe for the first part, i.e. some animal viruses have the ability to infect humans, but usually lack sufficient capabilities to then go on to infect other humans from a human host.
Edit: I am not saying this was done in a lab. It can happen naturally as well, for example this happened with the swine-flu. But it usually requires prolonged and wide-spread close contact between humans and these animals, which is unlikely in the case of cave bats.
Could the fact that it could naturally infect humans not be the reason they were studying it? I mean, we only have circumstantial evidence for a lab leak so it seems like jumping the gun to try and come up with theories on the details anyway.
Maybe for the first part, i.e. some animal viruses have the ability to infect humans, but usually lack sufficient capabilities to then go on to infect other humans from a human host.
Edit: I am not saying this was done in a lab. It can happen naturally as well, for example this happened with the swine-flu. But it usually requires prolonged and wide-spread close contact between humans and these animals, which is unlikely in the case of cave bats.