Will more virulent COVID-19 spring from hamsters, deer, mink?

“Follow the science” was a mantra of the pandemic’s first year, said Andrew Noymer, [associate professor of public health], UC Irvine. After the second year, we have “a la carte science,” he said. … “What we have is divergence, not convergence, over the last 12 months.” Before scientific opinion coalesces around a consensus, there’s vitriolic debate, Noymer said. The idea that doctors should wash their hands after performing autopsies, but before delivering babies, was once hotly controversial, so we shouldn’t be surprised at the vitriol today.