On Monday, October 26, 2020, 03:25:41 AM PDT, grarpamp
"RaTG13 looks like a “close cousin” of the Wuhan coronavirus – the two are 96% identical throughout the whole sequence of the viral genome. If RaTG13 is a nature-borne virus, one can comfortably conclude that the Wuhan coronavirus must very likely also come from nature and must share a recent common ancestor with RaTG13." [end of quote] My impression is that if two viruses are ONLY "96% identical" "throughout the whole sequence of the viral genome", they shouldn't be described as a "close cousin". Should it be called a "not-so-close cousin"? I don't know.