Majority Of Americans Unaware Coronavirus Came From A Wet Market

According to a new study conducted by research organisation Faunalytics, 84 per cent of Americans are not aware of the animal origin of the coronavirus. 

Scientists believe that the virus originated from a wet animal market in Wuhan, China.

For the research, Faunalytics chose 1,000 representatives of the United States population. The participants responded to five sets of questions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

When asked about the origin of the coronavirus outbreak, only 16 per cent of respondents mentioned “wet markets’.

Additionally, less than a third of the participants correctly identified the origin of the new virus when presented with a true or false version of the question.

Additionally, nine per cent of respondents believe that the new coronavirus was created by scientists in a laboratory. 

Faunalytics also presented participants with a study from the Center for Disease Control data, which indicates that 75 per cent of new infectious diseases come from animal origin.

The majority of participants found the information convincing (52%) and logical (57%).

Only 15 per cent agreed that there is a connection between pandemics and animal farming. 

Forty-two per cent of participants supported restrictions on farming and 43 per cent supported trade restrictions to prevent pandemics in the future, while 35 per cent were against full bans.

Faunalytics Research Director Jo Anderson, said: “These results show that we have a long way to go on educating the US public. The science is clear on how the use of animals for food can contribute to public health emergencies like the one the world is currently facing, but most people don’t know about it. We—not just advocates or researchers but everyone—need to replace misinformation with solid facts. And the fact is that this outbreak and others before it have been traced back to sick animals who were packed in tightly with one another and sold to humans as food.”