# What did the Chinese do with the wet market merchant who started this whole mess by selling diseased pangolins? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [January 29, 2021, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-chinese-do-with-the-wet-market-merchant-who-started-this-whole-mess-by-selling-diseased-pangolins/931765 "2021-01-29T12:27:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-chinese-do-with-the-wet-market-merchant-who-started-this-whole-mess-by-selling-diseased-pangolins/931765/1 "2021-01-29T12:27:07Z")
Thread title is the question. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-chinese-do-with-the-wet-market-merchant-who-started-this-whole-mess-by-selling-diseased-pangolins/931765/2 "2021-01-29T13:00:12Z")
Is there any evidence that this was traced to a single incident? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-chinese-do-with-the-wet-market-merchant-who-started-this-whole-mess-by-selling-diseased-pangolins/931765/3 "2021-01-29T13:03:04Z")
The original claim was diseased “bat soup”. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-chinese-do-with-the-wet-market-merchant-who-started-this-whole-mess-by-selling-diseased-pangolins/931765/4 "2021-01-29T13:07:18Z")
There are no hard facts at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-chinese-do-with-the-wet-market-merchant-who-started-this-whole-mess-by-selling-diseased-pangolins/931765/5 "2021-01-29T13:08:54Z")
Dude, I thought your thread on how liberals were okay with Sweden’s Covid response was a low water mark for basing a thread on a questionable premise. This new topic boldly challenges it for the Begging The Question crown. Jeez. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-chinese-do-with-the-wet-market-merchant-who-started-this-whole-mess-by-selling-diseased-pangolins/931765/6 "2021-01-29T13:22:56Z")
---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-chinese-do-with-the-wet-market-merchant-who-started-this-whole-mess-by-selling-diseased-pangolins/931765/7 "2021-01-29T13:34:59Z")
Given that 1) at this point, it seems to be established that [the coronavirus did not pass directly from pangolins to humans](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZGEwNzMyY2MtOTdiMC00ZWE2LTg5NjEtMmZlNmE1ZTkzYjQxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzYyMzU2OA@@._V1_.jpg), although they may have been an intermediate host that passed the virus to bats, 2) and that it has been established that [the virus did not start at a specific wet market](https://www.livescience.com/covid-19-did-not-start-at-wuhan-wet-market.html), and even if it had I have never heard that a specific vendor had been identified, the entire premise of this question is false. Since it cannot be answered, I am closing this. You are welcome to start a thread asking what the state of knowledge is on the origin of the coronavirus. But please do at least a minimal amount of research before asking questions, and don’t ask ones that make such wild leaps beyond anything that is known, and in fact are based on disproven allegations. Also, please don’t start threads in which “the title is the question.” Please elaborate on your reasons for asking a question. Do not do this again.