There is widespread agreement that Covid-19 likely emerged through the wildlife trade. The timeline below shows the percentage of global online news coverage of the outbreak that mentioned its likely wildlife origins. In the early days of the virus from 15% to as much as a third of coverage discussed its wildlife connection. Starting on January 23rd, however, as media coverage soared, mentions of wildlife began plunging and have all but disappeared today, with just 2-2.5% of coverage per day now mentioning a wildlife link.
As reflect on how to prevent such outbreaks in the future, the pivot of media attention away from how we arrived here is worth noting.
