Statistics cannot prove that the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was the early epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic

Dietrich Stoyan, Sung Nok Chiu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Working paperPreprint

Abstract

We criticize a statistical proof of the hypothesis that the Huanan seafood wholesale market was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are three points in the proof we consider critically: (1) The Huanan seafood wholesale market is not a data-driven location. (2) The assumption that a centroid of early case locations or another simply constructed point is the origin of an epidemic is not proved. (3) A Monte Carlo test used to prove that no other location than the seafood market can be the origin is not correct. Hence, the question of the origin of the pandemic is still open.
Original languageEnglish
PublisherCornell University
Pages1-11
Number of pages11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Aug 2022

Publication series

NamearXiv
PublisherCornell University

User-Defined Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • center of point cloud
  • Monte Carlo test
  • critique of proof

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