Finding the immediate source and mode of COVID-19 virus transmission to humans is key. Premature speculation presented as fact simply impedes efforts to prevent new exposure because resources are misallocated. The location of the initial transmission hasn’t even been confirmed yet. In fact, thirteen of the first forty-one infected humans had not visited the Wuhan wet market9.

Stories in Newsroom and The Scientist quoted leading virologists as predicting that the COVID-19 virus would ultimately be traced to bats. Then, when genetic analysis pointed to a snake origin10, it was claimed that the snakes (many banded crates and Chinese cobras) must have been infected by bats, continuing to emphasize a bat origin. The same followed for pangolins11. Scientists who in 2018 concluded that horseshoe bats were the source of SARS12 still insist on a bat origin in the case of the COVID-19 virus, though their claim has itself been questioned13.

Despite numerous efforts, bats still have not been credibly documented as transmitters of SARS to humans13. Even if bats did play a background role by infecting civets, control in humans had to focus on reducing contact with civets, not bats14.

In the case of MERS, bats were yet again the initial focus in the search for a source of human outbreaks. However, camels were eventually identified as the sole source15. Misdirecting attention from documented sources of human infection, in order to blame bats, needlessly decreases tolerance of bats while deflecting caution from other animals of far higher risk.

Arguments over historic lineages are unlikely to solve current problems.

The bias on sampling colonial bats is understandable. Compared to snakes or other animals, they are by far the easiest to quickly capture and process, have few defenders, and are already widely feared. Associating bats with rare, little-known viruses provides tempting opportunities for quick publication, big grants, and career advancement15.

Nevertheless, history does not support this bias. The great pandemics have come from birds, rodents or primates, not bats16. In truth, bats have one of our planet’s finest records of living safely with humans2,15.