COVID-19, wet markets, and planetary health

Wet markets provide an important source of protein to populations in low-income regions and the food systems in which such markets are embedded. They are more environmentally sustainable than industrial food systems. from the perspective of planetary health, which draws a connection between the health of humans and their environment, engaging in small-scale animal husbandry—of which live-animal markets often form a part—while reducing global meat consumption and more rigorously enforcing a ban on illegal wildlife trade would be beneficial than phasing out wet markets entirely.